Ruben Amorim has revealed Andre Onana was left out of the matchday squad against Arsenal because of the performances of Manchester United’s other goalkeepers in pre-season.
Onana missed all five of United’s pre-season friendlies through injury but has been back in training.
Amorim had left the Cameroon international sweating over his place by refusing to confirm whether he would be involved in the squad during Friday’s pre-match press conference.
And the Portuguese head coach named United’s back-up goalkeeper Altay Bayindir in the starting XI, with third choice goalkeeper Tom Heaton named on the bench.
Despite Onana’s lack of games in recent weeks, Amorim confirmed his match fitness had nothing to do with the decision to not name him in the team.
“No, he recovered,” Amorim told MUTV when asked if Onana was still injured. “But the other guys [Bayindir and Heaton] did so well during pre-season, so I need to balance that.”
Rasmus Hojlund was also omitted from the matchday squad. He is expected to leave the club following the arrival of Slovenia international Benjamin Sesko from RB Leipzig.
Speaking about whether they will return to the squad for next weekend’s trip to Fulham, Amorim added: “It’s an option. We try to choose the best players for each game so next week it’s a different life and in this week we chose this.”
