Ex-Man Utd star's 'lost for words' remark speaks volumes as Andre Onana shows up Red Devils

It took just one match away from Manchester United for Andre Onana to earn plaudits, and he's far from the first to thrive as soon as he moved away from Old Trafford. The Cameroonian goalkeeper ended up on the losing side on his Trabzonspor debut, but still earned plaudits after keeping his new side within touching distance of Fenerbahce while a man down.

Former West Brom midfielder Okay Yokuslu was sent off in the 20th minute of the game, but only a solitary Youssef En-Nesyri goal - for which Onana was arguably at fault - separated the two sides. Onana, who only joined on loan from United in the week of the match, earned praise in the Turkish media for "single-handedly" keeping his team in the game.

When explaining the decision to let Onana leave, United head coach Ruben Amorim hinted at the "big brother" qualities the Turkish press would end up pointing to after his Super Lig debut." He was really good on working, trying to help the players, but sometimes you can have all the quality in the world but you need to change the environment to return to your level, and I think that was the feeling not just for us but Andre as well," the Portuguese said.

Onana is far from the only United player to thrive upon securing a move away. The most dramatic success story is surely that of Scott McTominay, whose performances for Serie A title winners Napoli have propelled him into Ballon d'Or contention.

McTominay found minutes hard to come by in his final season in Manchester, even as he enjoyed some difference-making cameos - not least in a comeback victory over Brentford under Erik ten Hag. He has moved into a wholly different environment in Naples, though, as evidenced by the comments he made after that title win.

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"The sacrifice that every single player in the group has put forward to the cause," McTominay said after Antonio Conte's side clinched top spot "I'm lost for words. It's incredible.

"The people deserve it because they've been behind us from day one, and for me to come and experience this is a dream," he added. While Napoli were able to dig deep and make big sacrifices to earn the biggest prize in Italian football, the same hasn't been forthcoming at Old Trafford.

McTominay might be an extreme example, but he's not the only one. Marcus Rashford felt he had nowhere to go at his boyhood club but thrived at Aston Villa, while even Jadon Sancho - without a minute of football in months after his relationship with former boss Ten Hag proved unsalvageable - played his part in runs to two European finals with Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea.

Much has been made, too, of the fact that few players have seen their stock rise since joining United. It's not as if they have been bringing in misfits from elsewhere, either - these are footballers who have performed to high levels in different environments, only to struggle to replicate it in their new surroundings.

Onana, like McTominay before him, might well be the latest reminder that no player can reach their full potential until the wider environment changes. And making that change, clearly, is no easy task.

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