Why Aston Villa have spent big to sign Amadou Onana

 

Last week, reports of a deal taking Amadou Onana to Aston Villa started doing the rounds. The Belgian had been linked with a move to Arsenal earlier in the year as Everton ran the risk of failing to keep in line with PSR regulations but Villa look to have won the race to sign the 22-year-old. 

 

Like Everton, Villa were also at risk of breaking PSR rules but a number of big-money sales saw the Villans avoid any repercussions that allowed them to dip into the market to invest in the squad. The first port of call was replacing Douglas Luiz. The Brazil international shone for Villa last season yet the Premier League needed to sell to balance the books with Luiz ultimately departing for Italian side Juventus, with Enzo Barrenechea and Samuel Iling-Junior swapping Turin for Birmingham in the process. 

 

As far as a replacement for Luiz, though, Villa have done very well to sign Onana. The youngster enjoyed a low-key decent campaign for Everton as they ended the season with a flourish to beat the drop. However, the general consensus at Goodison Park was that Onana would be allowed to leave at the right price with Villa beating off competition to secure the Belgium international's services. 

 

 

Off the, ball he'll help provide the ideal defensive shield for this Villa backline. Indeed, only Lewis Dobbin (3.6) - who himself has moved to Villa Park - and Idrissa Gueye (3.5) made more tackles per 90 than Onana (3.1) of all Everton players in the Premier League last season, the latter mustering a solid 77.2% tackle success rate. 

 

What's key, though, is that Onana is able to play a number of midfield roles for his club. This is key for Villa with Unai Emery able to call upon both Boubacar Kamara, Youri Tielemans and now Ross Barkley in central midfield roles. Depending on who starts alongside Onana will tailor how he is utilised in the middle of the park. 

 

Kamara's injury means Onana is set to protect the backline more frequently with either Tielemans or Barkley as his partner. Yet hypothetically speaking, were Kamara available for selection, Onana has the means to press forward and support the attack from the left central midfield berth, just as he did for Everton last season and Luiz continuously did so in his final campaign at Villa. 

 

As Everton saw far less of of the ball than Villa last season - only Sheffield United (35%) returned a lower possession average than the Toffees (40.1%), while Villa managed 52.8% possession - this meant Onana's hard work off the ball was on show more frequently than his ability to support the offensive where possible. 

 

With Villa seeing more of the ball, we can also expect to see Onana's distribution on show more frequently than was the case during his time with Everton. Luiz (56.4) and Kamara (51.2) averaged more passes per 90 than Onana (44) in the Premier League last season, while the former pair managed a better pass success rate than the latter. 

 

 

There will be a slight style change to Onana's game in new surroundings, though he did perform well in the Belgium midfield prior to their last-16 exit at Euro 2024, doing so alongside new teammate Tielemans no less. 

 

Villa may be making a big splash in the market with the signing of Onana, parting ways with £50m to land the midfielder; fact is they needed reinforcements ahead of their debut Champions League campaign. Strengthening in a key area with one of the finest young midfield prospects in England, who in turn has two years' worth of Premier League experience under his belt, is a coup in itself.

Why Aston Villa have spent big to sign Amadou Onana