The club said in a statement Onana had “mistakenly” taken his wife’s medicine which had led to the banned diuretic Furosemide appearing in his urine. Onana posted on social media said that “everything was the result of a human mistake.” “I mistook a medicine containing a substance banned by WADA for a simple aspirin,” he wrote on Twitter and Instagram.
He said he considered the punishment “excessive and
disproportionate as it has been acknowledged by UEFA that it was an
unintentional mistake.” Onana and Ajax both said they would appeal at the Court
of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). Ajax said they had hoped Onana would receive a
shorter ban because the substance was “arguably” not a performance booster. “On
the morning of October 30, Onana was feeling unwell,” the club said in a
statement.
“He wanted to take a pill to ease the discomfort.
Unknowingly, however, he took Lasimac, a drug that his wife had previously been
prescribed. “Onana’s confusion resulted in him mistakenly taking his wife’s
medicine, ultimately causing this measure to be taken by UEFA against the
goalkeeper.” “We had hoped for a conditional suspension or for a suspension
much shorter than these 12 months, because it was arguably not intended to
strengthen his body and thus improve his performance,” said Ajax’s managing director
Edwin van der Sar, the former Manchester United goalkeeper.
Onana said that
after “being named the best goalkeeper in Holland for the last four years ad in
Africa for the last three years…I have no need to resort to doping to further
enhance my sporting career.” It is the second major setback this week for Ajax
who admitted Thursday that they had made a “huge” mistake in failing to
register record signing Sebastien Haller for the remainder of their Europa
League campaign. The Franco-Ivorian striker joined the club from West Ham in
early January for a club record 22.5 million euros ($26.9 million) and ought to
have been included on their Europa League roster but somehow was overlooked.