Onana Rejoins Trabzonspor on Loan With No Buy Option

Andre Onana rejoined Trabzonspor on 3 July on a season-long loan with no option to buy. Manchester United and the Turkish club had spent June in daily talks that sounded like a sale.

Trabzonspor is paying him €5.5 million for the year. United still own the contract until 2028.

Trabzonspor Put €5.5m on Onana, Not a Transfer Fee

The paperwork landed as a parking deal. Trabzonspor Sportif Yatirim told Borsa Istanbul, through the KAP disclosure dated 3 July, that the 2026-27 move was a free temporary transfer and that it had struck a one-year deal with the player himself.

That filing sets his pay at €3.5 million in guaranteed wages plus a €2 million signing fee. United reporter Simon Stone wrote the same day that Trabzonspor will cover all of Onana’s wages and will pay United a loan fee with add-ons, with no option to buy inside the agreement.

Transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano put the United-side number at up to £1.3 million, tied to performances, and said there is no obligation to buy either. Onana goes back to Old Trafford in a year.

THE 2026-27 LOAN ON PAPER

United’s short note said the move was subject to international clearance and registration, and that everyone at the club wished him luck for the campaign ahead. Confirmation had been delayed because Onana was on holiday. He had been due back at Carrington on 9 July.

Daily Talks Stopped Short of a Sale

Trabzonspor president Ertugrul Dogan had not been talking like a loan manager. On 5 June he told reporters he was in contact with the keeper every day and that money would not be the problem, the same daily talks aimed at a permanent move that ran through early June.

We speak with Onana every day. We won’t have any financial difficulties.

Ertugrul Dogan, Trabzonspor president

He added that the club would make the sacrifices required, and that if the talks hit a wall it would find another goalkeeper of the same quality. A few days later he said Trabzonspor had already met Onana’s financial demands, that the fans liked him, and that he did not think the keeper would find the same interest anywhere else.

That was the public line of a buyer. The KAP text is the line of a renter. Trabzonspor pays the man. It did not pay United a guaranteed fee, and it did not take a path to keep him in 2027.

No Way Back Past Senne Lammens

United had wanted a sale. Head coach Michael Carrick already had a No. 1, and Onana knew it. Senne Lammens arrived from Royal Antwerp on 1 September 2025 for an initial €21 million plus €4 million in add-ons, then made his debut on 4 October in a 2-0 home win over Sunderland and kept the first clean sheet of United’s league season.

He started every league game from there, later took the 2025-26 Premier League Transfer of the Season award, and went to the World Cup with Belgium. Former head coach Ruben Amorim had already dropped Onana at the start of that campaign, first giving Altay Bayindir the shirt, then switching to Lammens in October.

Onana’s only United appearance of 2025-26 was the EFL Cup night at Grimsby Town, a penalty defeat to a League Two side, after which United loaned him to Trabzonspor in September 2025. The club’s own note at the time recorded 102 appearances since the Inter move and wished him luck in Turkey. He is still listed as a United player on loan.

Those 102 games include 24 clean sheets. He started 72 of United’s 76 Premier League matches across 2023-24 and 2024-25 (51 appearances in all competitions, then 50) after joining from Inter on 20 July 2023 for an initial £43.8 million. The 2025-26 column on his United record is a single cup tie.

Winning the Turkish Cup Bought Him Another Year

The first loan, completed on 11 September 2025, was the first spell as a free temporary transfer. Fatih Tekke’s side used him at once. He debuted three days later against Fenerbahce in a 1-0 defeat and then held the job.

WHAT THE FIRST LOAN PRODUCED

• League load: 29 Super Lig appearances, the full domestic season in goal.
• All competitions: 33 matches, with 6 clean sheets.
• The cup: started the 22 May 2026 Turkish Cup final, a 2-1 win over Konyaspor, Trabzonspor’s first since 2020.
• The shirt: No. 24, the same number he wore at United.

That cup night is why Dogan could talk in June as if keeping him was obvious. Onana had been the man behind a trophy. United, watching from a distance, had a keeper they no longer picked and a wage they were glad to move off the books for another year.

Why United Took a Loan With No Buy Option

On 2 June, Romano said the live plan was still a return to Carrington for pre-season under Carrick, with Trabzonspor keen to talk about another loan through June 2027. The reply thread treated that return as a problem. One widely shared response called it the worst news of the day. Others joked about Lammens getting hurt and Onana being thrown into a European night United fans did not want him near.

Three weeks later the loan was verbally agreed. Romano posted the signed version on 2 July.

https://x.com/FabrizioRomano/status/2072756876836569331

The missing buy clause is the part that will follow both clubs into 2027. United get a year of wage relief and a shot at a small performance fee. They do not get the sale they spent June chasing. Trabzonspor get the keeper who just won them a cup, on star wages, without taking the asset onto their own books.

Three days after the signing, Romano added that the package, wages covered in Turkey plus bonuses, put Onana among the world’s top 10 best paid goalkeepers. The club that would not buy him is paying him as if it had.

One Year Left on the Books in 2028

The window closed on 1 September with Onana still a United player. By 27 August he had already played four times on the second loan, two in the Super Lig and two in Europe. He is in the team. The registration is United’s.

Bayindir’s exit underlines the gap in the Onana file. On 7 August the Turk joined Celta Vigo on a season-long loan that does include a buy option, set at £3.5 million, after 17 United appearances. The cheaper keeper left with a path off the wage bill. The £43.8 million keeper did not.

ONANA’S PATH AWAY FROM OLD TRAFFORD

1. 20 July 2023: Joins United from Inter on a deal running to 2028.
2. August 2025: Plays his only United match of 2025-26, the EFL Cup defeat at Grimsby Town.
3. 1 September 2025: Lammens signs from Royal Antwerp on deadline day.
4. 11 September 2025: First Trabzonspor loan is completed, with no buy option.
5. 22 May 2026: Starts the Turkish Cup final as Trabzonspor beat Konyaspor 2-1.
6. 5 June 2026: Dogan says he speaks to Onana every day and can meet the money.
7. 3 July 2026: Second loan is filed at KAP, again with no buy option.
8. 1 September 2026: The summer window shuts. Onana is still United’s, on loan until June 2027.

When this loan ends he will have one United season left. Trabzonspor can try to buy him then. Another club can. United can still be the ones paying a backup they do not use. The June conversations were about ending that story. The July filing only paused it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Andre Onana still a Manchester United player?

Yes. His United contract runs to 2028 and the club’s own player page still carries him as a goalkeeper on loan, wearing 24, after he joined on 20 July 2023. The 3 July filing only covers 2026-27, so he is due back at Carrington unless a new deal is struck next summer.

How much is Trabzonspor paying Onana this season?

The 3 July KAP notice puts him on €3.5 million guaranteed pay plus a €2 million signing fee, a €5.5 million player cost for one year. The first loan, filed in September 2025, was cheaper on paper: $3.51 million guaranteed and a $1.755 million signing fee, also with no transfer fee to United.

When did Onana first join Trabzonspor?

United completed the first season-long loan on 11 September 2025, just before the Turkish window shut, and he debuted on 14 September in a 1-0 Super Lig loss to Fenerbahce. He then played 29 league games and the cup run that ended with the 22 May 2026 final.

Does the Trabzonspor loan include a buy option?

No. Neither the 2025 loan nor the 2026-27 return includes an option or an obligation to buy, which is why he is scheduled to return to United in June 2027 with one year left. Bayindir’s separate August 2026 loan to Celta Vigo does carry a £3.5 million buy clause, the path Onana’s deal does not have.

Onana is in Turkey, playing, and paid as a starter. United still hold the registration. The next chance to turn that into a sale sits in 2027, when the loan expires and one year remains on the contract Dogan spent June trying to take on.