In February 2021, Andre Onana was banned from playing professional football for 12 months by UEFA for taking a substance he wasn’t supposed to. According to his team; Ajax, he had mistakenly taken his wife’s medicine. The team later filed an appeal which led to the reduction of his suspension from 12 to 9 months. This regardless doesn’t change the fact that being suspended for that long would not have its toll on the athlete as practice and performance is the routine that helps them improve in performance. But this wasn’t about to become Onana’s fate as he came back stronger and better. When his contract with Ajax was finally over, he signed a 5-year contract with Inter Milan. The contract was officially confirmed on the first of July 2022.
During Onana’s time at Ajax, he had earned quite a reputation for himself and that is what had gotten Inter Milan interested in the first place. Moving to Inter, he had to defend this reputation and he was ready! Since getting there, He has already won two trophies: The Italian super cup and the Italian Cup in less than a year. As if this isn’t enough, He has gotten his team to the UEFA Champions League finals to be played on the 10th of June 2023.
As written on Inter Milan’s official website, “The 26-year-old is now adding another stop on his journey. From the village of Nkol Ngok in Yaoundé to Barcelona and Amsterdam, Onana is now in Milan”. I think this is a perfect description of his journey so far. Less than a year after he moved to Inter on a free transfer, there are already rumors of a transfer link to Chelsea, but his agent has made it clear that it is early, and that the player is focused on the pitch at the moment. It hasn’t been an entirely sweet ride for him since he left Ajax coupled with his misunderstanding with the coach of the Cameroon national team; Rigobert Song, which late to his early exit from the team during the last world cup in Qatar. But so far, all his hard work has paid off in full. I look forward to writing about him winning the Champions League come June 10.
