Prior to Manchester United’s deflating 3-3 draw with Galatasaray, Erik ten Hag had told Altay Bayindir what he must do in order to make his first appearance for the club.
After being sought on deadline day to provide backup to Andre Onana, Bayindir is about to head into his third month as a Red having not made his official debut.
There’s been ample opportunity for his maiden outing to happen too, but the manager opted against deploying the goalkeeper even during United’s two Carabao Cup fixtures, the latter of which saw them exit the competition that they’re currently the holders of.
Last night, Onana produced another underwhelming showing between the sticks and one that’s now detrimental to the club’s Champions League qualification hopes; he conceded three goals with two coming directly from free-kicks and one, in particular, was nothing short of a howler.
It remains to be seen whether Ten Hag would have the guts to drop Onana for his performances and if this was the case, he perhaps would’ve done so by now. Being benched for the Turkish international could either reignite the fight in him to prove his suitability for the No.1 role or lessen his confidence amidst a troubled start to life at Old Trafford.
Ten Hag assures Bayindir’s chance will come
The manager shared his thoughts on his goalkeeping union recently, saying (via Manchester Evening News): “We are very happy with our keeper group, Andre, Altay, Tom [Heaton], as a group they do really well, they have good performances and they have to push each other.
“We are very pleased with Altay. He gets used to Premier League, he gets used to European football, which is tough when you are coming from Turkey but we are very pleased with the process. He is doing very well.
“He has to be patient but if he works well, if he keeps his progress, he will get his chances and he has to take this.”
