Andre Onana: Does new Internazionale shotstopper leave Ajax under a cloud? - Inside Europe

Ajax's Andre Onana is undergoing a medical with Inter Milan ahead of signing a five-year deal with the club in July.

He has been one of Europe's top shotstoppers for the past five years and - alongside two Eredivisie titles - helped Ajax to an unlikely Champions League semi-final.

But he has appeared just one since returning from a nine-month drugs ban in December, and has been pictured in Milan with multiple reports suggesting he is there fore a medical.

The 25-year-old will fill Samir Handanovic's gloves at the Azzurri next season as the Slovenian's contract comes to an end.

But does Onana leave Ajax on good terms? And what of the drugs ban? We asked the big questions to our partners in the Netherlands.

To be honest, it has been some kind of miracle that Onana played for Ajax for so long. He was really outstanding during the matches in the Champions League and saved Ajax quite a few times. Even in 2018/2019, when Ajax almost reached the final. They couldn’t have done this without the saves of Onana. Ever since, Ajax fans had to pinch themselves to realise it wasn’t a dream.

But then this doping thing happened. The club has always defended him and has always stood by him, but I think internally they have been angry as well. The doctors at Ajax have been to the bathroom to do some kind of reconstruction (I know this because Edwin van der Sar confirmed this to me personally), and there found out he made a mistake by taking medication that was prescribed to his pregnant wife. A small mistake, but a very expensive one! It has been very obvious the last month that while the club has always supported Onana (you never know if you need him again), the fans were not so supportive.

There hasn’t been any reception of the fans since his return however… Coincidence or not, Onana has only played matches since Ajax fans couldn’t attend because of covid rules. But there has been a lot of debate about whether or it was the right choice of the club to play Onana again. This debate has also been influenced by his replacements at Ajax: Both Maarten Stekelenburg and Remko Pasveer did a really good job!

Onana wasn’t allowed to train with the squad until the last month of his ban to regain some rhythm. In the meantime he trained with a personal trainer and/or physio as he also wasn’t allowed to use any staff of Ajax. He posted some video’s in his social channels, although it was mostly through his stories which we are not able to view anymore.

Well, this is an interesting one because Onana confessed he already had the chance to return to Barcelona but he wasn’t quite sure whether he would play or not. And playing is very important for him. He doesn’t want to sit on the bench, he wants to play. Therefore, he didn’t return to Barcelona and I think Inter is a good choice because they reach the point where they have to replace their long time number one. It feels like a natural moment for Onana to join Inter with some certainties about playing time.

You never know for sure, but when you talk about timing this is an interesting one. But it’s a little bit surprising for me he chooses to join Serie A because Onana has talked about racism a few times. He experienced this a few times in away matches in The Netherlands.

Onana has also said before he is thankful Ajax they give a chance to a young, black goalkeeper, although it wasn’t really something special for Ajax as they already played Stanley Menzo in the eighties and nineties. So Onana wasn’t the first black goalkeeper at Ajax. It has never been a big deal in The Netherlands or for Ajax fans.