André Onana made a more than excellent impression on the analysts of Veronica Inside. Johan Derksen, René van der Gijp and Valentijn Driessen agree that from now on the 25-year-old goalkeeper must remain under the bar at Ajax. “No, I was not at all surprised that Erik ten Hag drafted him,” said Driessen. “What a goalkeeper, say!”
Johan Derksen also praises Ten Hag for Onana’s starting position against Besiktas (1-2 win). “Very sensible, very professional”, says Derksen. “He is about three times as good as his replacement (Remko Pasveer, ed.) And it’s about money. They now have seventy million euros in the drawer (prize money in the Champions League, ed.), if they progress it will flow money in. Then don’t you give a damn what happened to that man in the past?”
Onana has indicated that she will leave on a free transfer after the season. The Cameroonian will probably go to Internazionale, although he does not want to say anything about it yet. For Derksen, however, that does not count. “He is under contract with Ajax, he is paid: drafting,” said the analyst. “And still not run the risk that you will be eliminated with Pasveer? He has done very well, but there is no guarantee that he will continue to do so.”
Driessen also believes that Pasveer should be removed from the goal. “If it goes wrong once in that knockout phase, you are immediately out. You can wait until he makes a mistake, but Onana is just a top keeper.” Derksen responds to this and says: “You have the choice between a world top player and a veteran with a lot of experience. Well, then you take that world top.”
Finally, Van der Gijp noticed that Onana is well received by his teammates. “What I thought was most important was that a lot of players at Ajax are happy with that boy,” said Van der Gijp. “You saw when they were standing in the middle circle afterwards that they all like him very much. They all hugged him. Then I thought: if that group of players is also completely behind it, well…”