With Andre Onana still at the Africa Cup of Nations, Altay Bayındır is expected to finally make his Man United debut against Newport County in the FA Cup on Sunday.
Reds fans don't know what to expect from the Turkish goalkeeper but many don't care at this point after Onana's poor start. However, a good outing at the League Two side could be the first step for Bayındır to displace the Cameroonian as number 1.
Here's why he seems ready. Bayindir has been in this sort of position before. At the age of 20, he moved from third-choice to top for the Turkish Super Lig side Ankaragucu.
“Altay was a young boy, mostly a line goalkeeper, who had great reflexes and was good with his feet,” says Bayindir’s former teammate Ankaragucu teammate Mostafa El Kabir.
“When the first goalkeeper got injured, the second choice got one game and didn’t do well. I told the coach, because I had some influence as one of the main players in the team, to play Altay because he was performing very well in training, making good saves, being vocal at such a young age.”
Bayindir kept his place for the remainder of the campaign, earning a move in the summer of 2019 to Fenerbahce, where he immediately became a regular.
Bayindir has been working hard and patiently waiting for this moment. Since he arrived at United, he has hired a dietitian, a physical therapist, and a performance coach, and the staff says the results are evident. He spends a lot of time talking about sleep and nutrition with the club's specialists.
Finally, during his four seasons at Fenerbahce, Bayindir took English lessons three times a week and he wants to learn Dutch and Spanish. Since joining United, he has continued English lessons. He is now fluent and has been known to rib his teammates and staff in a Mancunian accent.
