Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag has explained the reason which prompted him to purchase goalkeeper Andre Onana from Inter Milan.

On Thursday, the 27-year-old Cameroon international sealed a £47.2m transfer switch from the Serie A giants, agreed to sign a five-year deal with the option of a further year, as he replaced David De Gea, who left the club after 12 years as the club’s first-choice stopper.

“Most important, always for a keeper, is clean sheets and he’s not doing that on his own,” explained Ten Hag, adding: “Therefore, you need a very good defensive organisation, [it’s] quite clear. But also the capabilities of a keeper is [about] keeping the goal clean. So this is the first criterion of a good goalkeeper.

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“But, nowadays, football also demands good playing from the back, out-playing qualities, and that is a quality Andre has. You need both and you need to cover both areas. So yeah, we’re happy, of course.

“I think with his physical presence and also with his personality, he is so keen on winning. He’s so, so eager to win trophies and he will help the team and he will help the squad to get to higher levels.”

Ten Hag further believes Onana will have a good connection with Man United defender Lisandro Martinez by stating: “Did he have a good relationship with Martinez at Ajax? Yeah, of course. With the centre-half, it’s very important, that communication. That is always very important. It’s about the cooperation, the team. The keeper with his back four, the keeper with his whole team. It has to be connected.

“So you need the social and communication skills to get that on the highest level, on the level with the demand and the standards are very high in the Premier League and especially with Manchester United.”

Ten Hag worked with Onana at Ajax, where they won three league titles and two KNVB Cups together and reached the Champions League semi-finals in 2019.