André Onana is set to receive a salary increase at Manchester United this summer, even as the club actively seek to move the Cameroonian goalkeeper on, according to FourFourTwo.
The report presents a notable financial complication for United's hierarchy, who are understood to be working through a significant squad overhaul. Onana's wages rising at the precise moment the club wish to reduce his presence on the books will make any departure — whether loan or permanent sale — considerably harder to negotiate with potential suitors, who would either inherit or factor in his elevated pay packet.
Onana joined United from Inter Milan in the summer of 2023 and his time at Old Trafford has been marked by inconsistency. Errors in high-profile fixtures drew sustained scrutiny, and he has never fully convinced supporters or sections of the press that he represents the standard required at a club with United's ambitions. The confidence that accompanied his arrival, built on a strong spell in Milan and a commanding Africa Cup of Nations tournament with Cameroon, has been difficult to sustain.
United's broader financial position adds weight to the difficulty here. The club have been operating under considerable constraint and have sought to trim the wage bill rather than expand it. A goalkeeper who is regarded as surplus to requirements but who commands an increasing salary is precisely the kind of contractual tangle that complicates transfer windows and limits flexibility elsewhere in the squad.
Whether a buyer emerges willing to meet those wage demands remains to be seen. European clubs with the means and the interest have not, at this stage, been publicly identified. FourFourTwo's report does not specify the scale of the increase or the length of any remaining contract, so the full extent of United's exposure is not yet clear from available information.
For now, Onana remains a United player facing a summer of uncertainty, his club's desire for a sale sitting uneasily alongside the financial obligations they appear contractually bound to honour.