Andre Onana, a recent signing for Man United, was able to restart his football career and is now one of the most in-demand goalkeepers in the world
Andre Onana’s career was advancing after he left Barcelona in 2015 in search of greater playing time.
Onana had established himself as Ajax’s top choice under Erik ten Hag and was demonstrating that his early potential at the Catalan giants was no fluke. However, he would lose nearly a year of his career if he made a mistake in October 2020.
Onana opted to take a paracetamol from his kitchen after a 2-2 Champions League match with Atalanta. Onana had a headache and didn’t want to wait till he returned to Ajax’s De Toekomst training facility. The “keeper” conducted a normal drug doping evaluation after the session. These occur frequently at random in professional sports, and a player may be chosen at any time.
Although drug doping has not been as prevalent in football as it has been in some other sports, UEFA nevertheless believes it is necessary to ensure a level playing field. Onana learned he had failed the exam while at a training camp with Cameroon a few days later.
Onana’s sample contained traces of furosemide, which is prohibited by UEFA guidelines
The substance is prohibited in professional sports for two reasons: first, it can disguise the presence of performance-enhancing drugs in urine, and second, it can cause someone to lose weight quickly by excreting water, a problem that would be more prevalent in combat sports.
Ajax were perplexed as to why this drug had been discovered in his body, just like Onana. However, when United great Edwin van der Sar looked in his kitchen cupboard, he found the Cameroonian had unintentionally eaten Lasimac instead of the paracetamol he believed he had taken. Lasimac had been administered to his wife after she gave birth.
Even though UEFA agreed with Onana’s account of what happened, they nonetheless decided to ban him for violating doping laws in February 2021 for a nine-month period. He told The Guardian after the incident and the conclusion that was made: “I’m just a number, they can’t deal case by case.
“I believe they ought to, but there are laws and the laws are the laws. The doctors claimed that [Furosemide] is only useful for retaining water.
“A human error occurred,” Even though Onana returned in November 2021, he did not begin playing until the end of the 21/22 season, by which time he had made it plain he wanted to go on to fresh opportunities.
After his contract with Amsterdam expired, he would eventually go for Inter in the summer of 2022 on a free transfer.
