What Amadou Onana will bring to Aston Villa

""He's a strong personality. He never hides, he asks for the ball and he dares. He is one of the most talented young players in Europe.""

- Roberto Martinez (speaking in 2022)

Aston Villa have been a very busy club so far this summer. They have seen one of their most prized assets Douglas Luiz leave the club alongside Omari Kellyman, Tim Iroegbunam, Calum Chambers and Philippe Coutinho. Whilst those have seen the exit door Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley, Samuel Iling-Junior, Enzo Barrenechea and Lewis Dobbin have joined the club ahead of the new season. News has broken over the weekend that Aston Villa are close to adding another player to their incoming list and that is midfield powerhouse Amadou Onana.

Onana, having started every game for Belgium at Euro 2024, will undergo a medical at the start of next week ahead of his £50 million move from Goodison Park to Villa Park. The news has Villa fans extremely excited for the way the squad is shaping up ahead of next season as it seems the quality of depth is growing significantly.

As written by Site Expert Hekato Achumi, 'Unai Emery's preferred formation at Aston Villa heavily relies on midfielders who can contribute effectively in both defence and attack. Onana's defensive prowess, highlighted by his top 8% ranking for tackles and top 13% for ball recoveries among European midfielders, makes him an ideal fit for this system. Moreover, his ability to win aerial duels and make late runs into the box adds an offensive dimension to his game, aligning perfectly with Emery's tactical approach.'

So let's dig deeper into the attributes that Villa's new club record signing will bring to the club.

A huge presence

One thing the Villa team of last season certainly lacked was height in the team. Villa had a number of qualities and is why they performed so well but when they fell short in matches it was often due to the lack of physical presence in the team. At 6ft 4, Onana brings an intimidatingly large figure to the midfield, something Villa have lacked for years. When you think of the likes of Luiz, Kamara, McGinn and Tielemans who are all fantastic players, none of them possess the ability to dominate physically in midfield. Onana has been previously compared to the likes of Paul Pogba and Patrick Vieira in terms of the presence they bring to the midfield areas. Onana's huge frame combined with athletic ability creates a holding midfielder that breaks up play and provides perfect balance to the team.

Aerial ability

Aston Villa conceded 16 goals from set pieces last season due to the lack of height or individuals with the ability to attack the ball in the air. Only Nottingham Forest, Burnley, Luton Town and Sheffield United conceded more from these situations. Pau Torres and Ezri Konsa are both fantastic centre-halves in terms of their ability on the ball and blocking shots, but attacking the ball in the air is not their strengths. As a result, and due to Villa missing Tyrone Mings through injury all season, Villa were vulnerable defensively from corners, free kicks and crosses and conceded a high percentage of their goals from these scenarios. Onana's presence in the box ticks that box. He will win the majority of his aerial duels and will likely be the man given the task of going to attack the ball when corners and free kicks come into Villa's box. This will massively reduce the number of goals the team will concede. Onana won 74.3% of his aerial duels last season (4th best in the league) whereas Torres won 51.1%, Konsa won 68.2%, Diego Carlos won just 44.7% (which is very low considering this is meant to be one of his better attributes!) and Boubacar Kamara won just 43.2%. Our threat in the air going forward, as well as at the back more importantly, will significantly improve with Onana in the team.

Tackling/ball recovery

Onana's tackle percentage last season was 50%. When compared to others in the Premier League in his position such as Rodri (48.3%), Declan Rice (56.1%), Enzo Fernandez (41.5%), Casemiro (48.1%) and Pascal Gross (43.1%) he ranks fairly highly for tackle success rate. In the second half of last season, following Kamara's injury, Villa were definitely missing a player in the middle of the pitch who would dispossess the opposition and break up the play. Douglas Luiz tried to take over that role at times but other areas of his game suffered as a result. Onana will be the perfect man in front of the defence to break up play. Also, Onana received just five yellow cards last season which for a holding midfielder is not many at all. This would suggest that he wins a lot of his tackles and has a good disciplinary record which Unai Emery has always cared greatly about in his teams. Douglas Luiz and John McGinn both suffered suspensions last year after receiving too many yellow or red cards and so Onana will be well suited to Emery's ideas.

Champions League experience

Having played in the competition with former club Lille, Onana has a season's worth of experience playing in the Champions League. Unai Emery has been clever so far this transfer window by signing players that have experience playing at the top level of European football, which Villa as a club will be doing for the first time in over forty years next season. Onana, as well as new signings Ian Maatsen and Ross Barkley, has had the experience of hearing the anthem on a Tuesday night, lived these big occasions and Villa will need players and leaders who have experienced that before.

""He’s certainly got the physical capabilities to go into the 10 spot and crash the box from wide areas but his history suggests he’s slightly better deeper.”"

- Sean Dyche (speaking in November 2023)

Villa fans are starting to put together their starting XI for the opening game of the season in just over four weeks time, and it's an exciting thought with the amount of high quality players coming through the door. There will be more incomings and outgoings too, that's for sure.

UTV