Onana plays down Barcelona move

Ajax’s Andre Onana has poured cold water over reports linking him with a move to Barcelona.

The reports started appearing back in February, as Jasper Cillessen’s future with the Catalan club came into doubt. The Dutch international has hardly played at all since joining Barca back in 2016 (from Ajax, incidentally). He has never been given a proper chance to challenge Marc-Andre ter Stegen for the spot between the posts and has reportedly expressed his desire to leave Camp Nou in search of regular football.

Onana has been seen as a direct replacement for Cillessen, but the 22-year-old apparently doesn’t wish to move to Catalonia for the same reason Cillessen wants to leave it.

In an interview with the BBC, Onana said Barcelona, where he started his football adventure, still feels like home to him, but despite every player wanting to play for the La Liga champions, he feels that he needs to keep playing at this point in his career, and not sit on the bench.