Andre Onana was a busy man during the first half of Manchester United’s Premier League match against Liverpool on Sunday afternoon.
The United goalkeeper was called into action on multiple occasions, with visitors Liverpool registering 15 shots on the Cameroon international’s goal during a one-sided first half at Old Trafford.
Television replays at one point showed Onana appearing to put Vaseline on his gloves during a break in play although when approached by The Athletic those close to Onana insisted it wasn’t and was instead a substance designed specifically to improve grip.
Despite scepticism from those watching he wouldn’t be the first to use Vaseline — an American brand of petroleum jelly-based products — in this manner, however.
The bizarre goalkeeper hack was recently explained by Coventry City goalkeeper Ben Wilson in a discussion with former United and England goalkeeper, Ben Foster.
Discussing the various methods keepers employed to gain better grip, Wilson said: “A lot of the goalkeepers these days are wearing Vaseline on their gloves and I won’t let myself do it.”
“Explain the Vaseline thing,” Foster replied. “Because I remember the first player I saw do that was Joe Hart in Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.
“He put Vaseline on his gloves and he said ‘Fozzy, honestly, it is a game changer!’”
“It is,” said Wilson. “But I won’t allow myself to do it, no matter how wet and how damaged my gloves are I won’t do it. The difference is unbelievable.
“I worked with Martyn Margetson at Cardiff and he told me to put Vaseline on. It was chucking it down and one of the guys did it and I could feel it then, it was unbelievable.”
Foster added: “It’s hard to explain, but if we were in a training session, I could tell which one had Vaseline on their gloves, because as soon as you caught the ball, it does feel grippier.”
In a 2022 interview with goalkeeper coach Conor O’Keefe, Hart said he was introduced to the technique by former Leicester stopper, Kasper Schmeichel.
“I had finished with Umbro and I was trialling new gloves in pre-season and this Vaseline rumour was around. I thought it can’t work, it doesn’t make any sense,” he said.
“But Kasper (Schmeichel) said ‘put Vaseline on them’ and I trust him because I’m close to him, so I did it and I’ve never looked back.
“I’ve known lads not to do it out of principle, but as soon as I did it in training, I’d see them go to the ball and start rubbing their hands on the ball to get the Vaseline on their gloves.”
IFAB — football’s lawmakers — has no rule against the use of Vaseline or any other petroleum jelly.
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