It says everything about Manchester United’s success rate with goalkeepers that André Onana might not claim the distinction of being the club’s worst No. 1 during the Premier League era. But it is undeniable that the team’s dismal record over the last two years has coincided with the 29-year-old’s period in goal.

There are many key ingredients for a successful team. Two of the most important are the ability to score goals and keep them out of your own net. Pretty simple, right? Score more than the other side and stop them scoring while you do it.

United spent over £200 million this summer on Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko, in an attempt to upgrade on the woeful attacking options that recorded just 44 goals in 38 league games last season. But, despite conceding 54 goals, the goalkeeping problem was allowed to fester.

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Every game so far this season has been impacted by a mistake from the man chosen to wear the gloves by head coach Ruben Amorim. Whether it be Altay Bayindir, the error-prone Turkey international who played in United’s three league games, or Onana in the Carabao Cup, the story has been the same; incompetence in goal that has led to a series of negative results.

But as former Ajax and Inter Milan keeper Onana prepares to leave United for a season-long loan deal with Turkish Super Lig team Trabzonspor, the Cameroon international’s exit will only serve to highlight the mess that Amorim has been left to untangle in arguably the most important position in his team.

One of Pep Guardiola’s priority tasks at Manchester City this summer was to rebuild his team’s goalkeeping department. The club signed the man regarded as England’s next No. 1 — James Trafford, from Burnley — and another viewed by many as the best in the world, Paris Saint-Germain and Italy keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Amorim, similarly concerned by United’s goalkeeping options, wanted the club to seal a deal for Argentina No. 1 Emiliano Martínez, but a low-ball loan offer early in the window failed to persuade Aston Villa to do business. There was only the briefest of enquiries about Donnarumma’s intentions when it became clear that PSG would listen to offers following their €40 million signing of Lille’s Lucas Chevalier.

In the end, despite Martínez being open to a move to Old Trafford in the final hours of the transfer window, United chose to sign Senne Lammens, the 23-year-old Belgium under-21 international from Antwerp in a deal worth £18.2 million. Sources in Belgium have told ESPN that while Lammens is regarded as a potential long-term successor to Real Madrid’s Thibaut Courtois for the national team, he is still raw and, according to one source, “unconvincing when dealing with crosses.”

United, meanwhile, have repeatedly stressed that Lammens is “one for the future” and a youngster who will be given time to adapt to the challenge of playing in the Premier League for a club that places unique pressure on their goalkeepers. Whenever a new keeper arrives at Old Trafford, he is standing on the shoulder of giants such as Peter Schmeichel, Edwin van der Sar and David de Gea — three of the Premier League’s all-time greats — but Onana’s performances over the past two years have placed even greater scrutiny on the position.

Had the club made a late move for Martínez, the 33-year-old FIFA World Cup winner’s presence, reputation and big-game experience may have been the perfect solution in terms of enabling Lammens to acclimatise to English football before being thrown in at the deep end. But as Amorim prepares for Sunday’s clash with Manchester City at the Etihad, he is faced with a hugely difficult decision as to whether to start with the unconvincing Bayindir or hand Lammens his debut in the unforgiving arena of a derby. Guardiola has no such concerns about Trafford or Donnarumma.

Yet United, rather than Amorim, only have themselves to blame for the situation their coach is having to address. A United source has told ESPN that Bayindir was only signed in September 2023 for a low fee of £4.3 million from Fenerbahce because the club needed somebody to compete with Tom Heaton as the backup keeper after Jack Butland had vacated the role earlier in the summer to join Rangers.

Bayindir’s subsequent performances for United have shown that he is not equipped to be No. 1, while 39-year-old Heaton has been continually overlooked. But if Lammens is deemed to be “one for the future,” Amorim has been left without a goalkeeper he can truly rely upon.

Onana, a £47 million replacement for the departing De Gea in 2023, never suggested himself to be good enough to be the first-choice keeper at a club of United’s stature. His Premier League debut against Wolverhampton Wanderers was marked by a mistake, when he missed a corner and accidentally clattered into Sasa Kalajdzic only for the match officials — who were demoted for the next game — to miss the incident and not award a penalty.

After a stream of errors over two full seasons leading to goals, Onana’s most recent performance was the humiliating Carabao Cup defeat against League Two club Grimsby Town last month. He was at fault for two goals before saving just one of 13 penalties in a 12-11 shootout defeat, so it was simply a case of him finishing his time at the club as he began — with questions being asked of his competence.

Massimo Taibi, Mark Bosnich, Fabien Barthez and Roy Carroll all made too many mistakes to be a successful United keeper — Taibi only lasted four games, despite being recommended to the club by Martin Ferguson, former manager Sir Alex’s brother, who was the club’s senior European scout at the time. But Onana has been erratic and unreliable from the moment he pulled on a United shirt and the only surprise is that it has taken so long for him to be moved on.

His exit is certainly a problem solved for Amorim, but United have not fixed the bigger one because they haven’t signed a keeper who is more likely to be another Schmeichel or Van der Sar rather than another Bosnich or Barthez.