Rio Ferdinand believes Andre Onana will be telling himself ‘this is not the start I wanted’ at Manchester United and insists the struggling goalkeeper knows he needs to ‘buck up his ideas’

Rio Ferdinand believes Andre Onana will agree the start to his Manchester United career hasn’t gone to plan after a series of high-profile errors.

The United goalkeeper was brought in to be David de Gea’s replacement as first-team manager Erik ten Hag sanctioned his £47.1m transfer from Inter Milan.

But, Onana has struggled to replicate the same form that helped guide Inter to last season’s Champions League final amid United’s difficult run during the opening weeks of the new Premier League campaign.

Having made several mistakes between the sticks for United, Onana was again at fault after failing to stop Mathias Jensen’s strike against Brentford on Saturday despite getting a hand to the ball.

Scott McTominay spared the Cameroonian’s blushes after coming off the bench to score twice in stoppage time and rescue a 2-1 win for United at Old Trafford.

Onana failed to stop Mathias Jensen’s (far right) shot in United’s weekend win over Brentford

The 27-year-old shot-stopper has endured a difficult start to life at Man United

Comparisons have been made to De Gea’s previous difficult start to life at the English giants and Ferdinand believes Onana will know his recent form hasn’t met the ‘required standard’. 

‘He should have made the save. In training, he probably makes that save every day. I saw a quote from Peter Schmeichel, who spoke to him and told him not to let [the pressure of] Man Utd get to you, Ferdinand said on his Five YouTube show.

‘At the moment, there are nerves that are in there, because of the mistakes. A lot of people are asking if he can recover. I was there when De Gea came. 

‘He was obviously younger but he didn’t start well, you know. I think in his first 10 games or so, the numbers are similar to Onana.

‘If you were to speak to Onana himself, I think he would say, ‘This is not the start I wanted, this is no way near the level I am used to performing at and this is not the standard required at Man Utd so I need to buck up my ideas,’ he added.

Onana ran the full length of the pitch as United secured a late win over Brentford on Saturday

Former United defender Rio Ferdinand believes Onana will agree his start at Man United hasn’t met the ‘required standard’

The 27-year-old ran the full length of the pitch to celebrate with his team-mates after McTominay netted a 97th-minute header to secure victory.

Ferdinand highlighted similarities in the celebration to when he was relieved after former team-mate David Beckham scored a last-gasp goal for England at the same ground to qualify for the 2002 World Cup. 

‘I saw a bit of myself, I didn’t play well when England drew against Greece when David Beckham scored that free-kick,’ he said.

‘I remember celebrating with Becks and thanking him. I saw a bit of that in Onana. When you make a mistake… I could sense the relief that he had.’