Manchester United may regret selling talented goalkeeper, Matej Kovar.
The Czech goalkeeper spent last season on loan, where he won the Czech First League as number one for Sparta Prague.
He returned to Old Trafford at the end of the 2022/23 season, and it was initially thought that he would stay to play some role as a backup.
However, despite Kovar starting pre-season – and giving a good account of himself – with United, Erik ten Hag approved a sale of the player, albeit with a buy-back clause included in the deal.
On the face of the early evidence, the Dutchman may come to regret this. United have started the season in woeful form defensively, having conceded 14 goals in six games so far.
On the other hand, Kovar, who has started off as number two to Lukas Hradecky has had to wait some time to make his debut.
Appearing for Leverkusen for the first time yesterday, the 23-year-old put in a stellar performance that seemingly emphasizes everything the Red Devils expected but are yet to see from new number 1, Andre Onana.
With the Camerounian having looked like a downgrade from David de Gea, in terms of shot-stopping, the hope would have been that his on-the-ball skills would make up for his relative lack of short-stopping prowess.
While that has not happened so far, Kovar is showing United what could have been. In his debut game, as stats shared by SportsBIBLE show, he made six saves to earn a clean sheet, something the Red Devils could do with at the moment.
He was also quite tidy on the ball with six long passes and 26 passes in total, with an 86% pass completion rate.
The optics of the comparison don’t look great for Onana. However, it should be remembered that he has faced a much higher profile of opposition.
It may also be far too soon to make any judgments about him as United have yet to settle into any rhythm, with injuries to several key players, and new defensive midfielder, Sofyan Ambrat, yet to make an appearance.