Brutal David de Gea parallel can't be ignored despite 'divisive' heroics in Man United win

For the second season in succession, a Manchester United goalkeeper could win the Golden Glove award. For the second season in succession, they are also dividing opinions.

Andre Onana earned plenty of praise for his performance in United's weekend win over Aston Villa, but at the same time, he also drew some criticism for his divisive style of play.

How you rate Onana depends on what you judge a goalkeeper's job to be. If it was just to keep the ball out of the back of the net, then he did that with eight saves in total on Sunday afternoon, five of which were inside the box.

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But if that is the trait that reigns supreme, then is he really an upgrade on David de Gea? Onana was signed to be an improvement on the Spaniard shot-stopper, yet all he has really done is emulate him in his debut campaign.

Onana catches the eye for his reactionary stops, no matter how unorthodox they might be, yet he has been exposed all season for limited distribution and an uncertainty brought to the entire defensive line.

The quirk is that the Cameroonian still sits second in the race for the Golden Glove award in the Premier League, though you only have to watch how United play to realise he is not the second-best goalkeeper in the league.

What further muddies the perception of him are the statistics that can be twisted to fit whatever narrative you wish. Onana has kept as many clean sheets as Alisson Becker in three appearances more, but then again, he has been part of a dysfunctional defence that changes most weeks. He has made more saves than