Man Utd have a serious Andre Onana upgrade under their nose - Bristol City fans love him | OneFootball

Man United need a new goalkeeper, but they've already loaned one out a Championship club, where Radek Vitek's already making significant waves.

Acres of newspaper coverage has been given to Manchester United's goalkeeping issues this summer, but they already have on under their nose who they've sent out on loan this summer, and Bristol City fans love him.

Bristol City have made an unbeaten start to their Championship season, and one player in particular is earning rave reviews from their fans. The Robins have started 2025-26 with two wins and two draws, putting them in sixth place in the table and strengthening the belief that they can repeat last year's achievement of reaching the play-offs.

One of the players who's impressed the most has been goalkeeper Radek Vitek. The 21-year-old signed on a season-long loan from Manchester United during the summer, and has already earned rave reviews from the Bristol City faithful. And the irony of this is that United themselves are in a goalkeeping crisis as a result of the collapse in form of Andre Onana, which they could potentially resolve by recalling their stopper from Ashton Gate.

Radek Vitek has left an immediate impression on Bristol City fans

Bristol City fans realised that they had something special on their hands when Radek Vitek made his debut for them in a pre-season friendly against the Spanish club Real Valldolid. The Robins won the match 4-0, and City's clean sheet was maintained when Vitek saved a penalty kick.

That form has carried over into the new League season. Vitek has been their player of the match in two of their four games already, with a string of excellent saves earning him particular praise following their recent 4-2 win against Hull City. It's clear already that he has already won the hearts of the Ashton Gate faithful; his first month at the club ended with the fans voting him the Bristol City Player of the Month.

Radek Vitek's strong Ashton Gate start has been visible both through the eyes and through the stats

The tabloid press seemed to have enjoyed teasing Manchester United supporters over Vitek's form in the Championship, while their own goalkeeping issues have been so well-publicised. The Sun reported on one particular one-handed save from an Oli McBurnie header during the Hull match by saying that "Manchester United fans were left green with envy" by the goalkeeper's performance.

And praise that Vitek has received has been borne out by his statistics. Last season, he shone in goal for the Austrian Bundesliga club Blau-Weiss Linz, with a saved shot percentage of 69.3% and an accurate pass score of 61.5%; the latter of these figures being all the more notable when we recall that it was widely-reported that Onana was first signed by Manchester United under Erik ten Hag because he was good with his feet. And Vitek's saves percentage has risen to 80% over his first four games with Bristol City so far this season.

Manchester United have already made one goalkeeping move since the start of the season, bringing in Senne Lammens from Royal Antwerp for £18.2 million at the end of the summer transfer window. But the modern elite level football club needs more than one strong, consistent goalkeeper, and with neither Onana nor Altay Bayindir apparently having the required consistency, it was something of a surprise that a young goalkeeper who excelled last season in Austria was allowed to leave to get more experience again this time around.

At 23 and 21, Lammens and Vitek are both young, but Vitek could have provided strong competition to United's newest goalkeeper while minimising their dependency on their inconsistent other pairing. Bristol City fans will be delighted that Vitek is at their club and showing the sort of form in which he has been. But they may also be nervous about what happens next, considering Manchester United's ongoing goalkeeping dilemmas.