Andre Onana whipped the Trabzonspor dressing room into a frenzy with a rousing half-time speech during their defeat by Fenerbahce on Sunday night, footage reveals.
The Manchester United outcast suffered a mixed start to life in Turkey as a clip of his mistake which led to the only goal went viral, but he had made a brilliant save to begin with and was still awarded man of the match.
Onana only conceded one of 29 shots, nine of which hit the target, but after making an impressive save he spilled the ball in front of goal and Fenerbahce capitalised just before half time.
All the same, the loanee felt confident enough to stand up in front of his new team-mates and deliver a motivational lecture worthy of King Henry V at Agincourt.
‘We have to win this match for this man,’ he shouted, gesturing to team-mate Okay Yokuslu, who had been sent off. ‘We have to win this match for this man.
‘We can do this if we stay together. I know it’s hard. We have to do this.’
Andre Onana gave a passionate speech as Trabzonspor lost 1-0 to Fenerbahce on his debut
Onana made a string of saves to win man of the match but also made an error to concede
The response to his speech was clearly positive as his crowd burst out into applause when he pulled away and went to sit down. Unfortunately it did not inspire enough of a jolt as they went on to lose 1-0.
Onana is hoping to rebuild his reputation after a calamity-strewn couple of years at Old Trafford.
There is hope that the Cameroonian, 29, still has a high ceiling – he was a Champions League finalist with Inter Milan before moving to England.
But the £47million star find himself cast aside for a season in Turkey with a side who finished seventh last season.
That said, there is hope of glory. After five games, Trabzonspor sit third with 10 points and fans will hope of a repeat of the historic 2021-22 season, when they won the title.
This is no bleak outpost. In that season, their average attendance was over 35,000, a sign of the passion and stakes when the team click into gear.
And Onana has reportedly doubled his earnings due to the signing-on fee and bonuses on offer.
He is one of several big-name stars to move to Turkey recently, with Ederson, Leroy Sane, and Victor Osimhen all now calling it home.
Hundreds of fans mobbed him when he arrived, clearly excited by the prospect of him wearing the gloves.
His only appearance for Manchester United this season was in the Carabao Cup defeat by Grimsby and he has been pushed down the pecking order after the arrival of Senne Lammens.
