Arsenal has been monitoring Amadou Onana of Everton for some time now, and it appears that they are keen on making him a priority during the upcoming winter transfer window.
Amadou Onana – Player Profile
Age: 22
Club: Everton
Position: CM/DM
Nationality: Belgian
Value: £45M
Height: 6ft 4
Average SofaScore: 7.06
Arsenal is in contact with Everton to discuss a deal for Amadou Onana and they considering a bid. Everton does want the jackpot: it is aiming for at least £51m (€60m). Onana himself is open to joining a club higher up in the league. [@PJCalcoen]
— Z (@ZRAFC) January 8, 2024
The Rise of Amadou Onana:
Taking his baby steps into the footballing world with the highly-rated Anderlecht academy before moving abroad, he started his professional career in Germany for Hoffenheim and Hamburg in the Bundesliga and then went on to have a successful stint at Lille in the Ligue 1 where he was quick to make his name echoed in the minds of football fans. His formidable performances at the domestic level earned him a debut call-up for the Belgium National team where he was highly rated by Roberto Martinez.
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Amadou Onana has made strong strides across Europe in the past couple of seasons. His personality of never backing down and daring to do the extreme distinguishes him from other young midfielders. His commanding presence and technical finesse set him apart from other players. Onana features in a double pivot for Everton.
Onana’s ability to intercept and push forward has placed him on Arsenal’s radar in a much-needed midfield boost.
Amadou Onana – Scouting Report
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Onana is a high-quality 6/8 hybrid who indirectly raises the level of the players around him, a trait that Declan Rice has along naturally. Onana is very quick for a player of his size, an even better ball carrier.
His 6’4 height makes him a potential game-changer both defensively and offensively. He can be a real asset when it comes to set pieces. With the deliveries that Arsenal do put out in the box, his height and IQ can be decisive. His towering height makes him have a massive physical presence in the middle of the park. You’ll often see him winning aerial duels and using his body to ease opponents off the ball or drive through the centre of the park. Ranking in the 95 Percentile for Aerial won per90, his numbers are quite highly ranked.
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Onana is one such player who stands out when you watch him play. One of the key reasons for this is his skillset of carrying the ball so well. He has had to switch his profile after signing for the Merseyside club. At Lille, he was a fairly fancy dribbler, with decent ball control. He wins possession and is really stable at keeping the ball at his feet and holding onto possession.
His expertise in carrying the ball at his feet in different scenarios of the match helps in progressing up the pitch. He takes large strides which makes it difficult for the opposition to keep up with him. His physical strength allows him to move past them easily. If he had to be signed at Arsenal, a side that dominates possession, he could be given more freedom in doing so + he’s young. He’s certainly shown signs of improvement ever since he’s come to England.
Onana is neither a progressive nor a high-volume passer, his role in a possession-based side would have to be assessed. He has time on his side to develop and sharpen his ball-playing attributes to become a better fit for a possession-orientated side.
His defensive numbers are really impressive for a person who’s been playing in the PL for only a year. Onana is remarkably good in 1v1 duels and tackling dribblers. Winning a total of 72% of duels at the 99 percentile, he had one of the best numbers in the league last season.
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Amadou Onana has the highest duel success rate of any midfielder to win 10+ duels in the Premier League this season:
◎ 145 duels contested
◎ 99 duels won
◉ 68.3% win rateSean Dyche approves this message.
— Squawka (@Squawka) December 19, 2023
Arsenal would like to cash in on one of their older midfielders in the upcoming window, i.e. Thomas Partey, Jorginho, and Mo Elneny.
The backline of Tomi, Gabriel, Saliba, and Timber with a pivot of Rice and Onana is only going to cause a menace. A menace for the opposition to deal with the physicality. Arsenal would have one of the most physical profile-based teams in world football.
Despite being only 22 he has more than 200 career appearances, his age bracket provides experience in the Premier League, Champions League and even the World Cup stint with Belgium.
Onana is almost never injured, his track records show how his availability always makes a difference in the games he plays. The role of replacing Partey can go unnoticed if the execution of this deal works out.
His numbers would surely soar high when he joins a ball-dominating team like Arsenal. It’s essential to note that he’s got such imposing numbers in his debut season in the Premier League featuring in a team with possession below 50%
Weaknesses:
Spatial Awareness: Like the other #6s in the market, he doesn’t have that plus point of having spatial awareness and a tendency to look out for danger. Arteta alongside the players Arsenal have could mold him into a beast in aspects like these to improve his game’s personal level.
Moreover, gets too casual during patches of play and dictates the play.
His touches aren’t always the best and his passing range isn’t elite either. Considering he plays for a side like Everton, who don’t maintain possession for long it’s quite good; he does have the chance to improve on this. If he can improve on his passing range and accuracy, he would be given much more freedom in going forward and increasing the touches in the attacking 3rd, which would automatically see a rise in his attacking outputs.
Speculations on his role at Arsenal
Compared to Declan Rice:
Could either play alongside Rice or even as his cover depending on the circumstances. Gives Rice more freedom to come forward and help the attackers, which he is very good at; just doesn’t have the license in our current setup.
The narrative of Arsenal not progressing the ball, especially from the central areas is false as Rice has the most progressive passes in Europe’s Top 5 divisions (184).
No player in Europe’s top five leagues has made more progressive passes this season than Declan Rice (184)
Looking pic.twitter.com/empT3HoWhO
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 2, 2024
Onana can be an additional boost to this ‘not so’ attacking side compared to last season in Xhaka’s presence. Rice could play as the #8 and create more combinations with Martinelli on the left.
Starting him at LCM would be the best pick out in the current Arsenal set-up. A more than decent rotation option as well. Would be a more than decent option for our overworking LCM position. Onana realistically would go on to do Rice’s Community Shield Role.
This somewhat has a resemblance to Arsenal in the Invincible era where Gilberto Silva and Patrick Vieira were in the heart of midfield.
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Onana and Rice will provide ultimate security to their defence and would give Martinelli a natural left-footed overlap from Zinchenko on a more consistent basis.
Zinchenko’s on-the-ball attacking movements can be highly appreciated due to the signing of Onana, with this he could defend the extra channels with his athleticism.
Playing Rice as the #8 may raise questions about Havertz not having a spot in the side other than being played as a rotational #9 option and whether Rice has the final third capabilities to run Arsenal’s play
What do Arsenal need from their Midfield target? How would Onana fit in?
The role of the ideal DM would be broadly categorized into 2 aspects: Offensively and Defensively.
Offensively to exploit the open spaces, have spatial awareness to get in the right spot to receive the ball, first touch, composure, carrying, and finally passing to find the AMF in front; something Partey did quite easily.
Onana would broadly fit in the ideal category of a player who is ‘Defensively’ able to position himself, anticipate the ball and show quality in 1v1 duels, tackling, winning aerial duels and have the quality to stop the defensive transition.
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Looking at some of the best DM’s of our generation, Busquets, Fabinho, Casemiro and now Rodri they all stood by how refined they were with the technique. Onana could instill his name in this category.
Arsenal could also use him in matches where they aren’t expected to hold much of the ball and dominate in possession. He could be the perfect cover and rotation to both, Kai Havertz and Rice. He can tuck in as the DM, give Rice the freedom to play at LCM and move up and down the pitch or even become a textbook Box-to-Box midfielder. Or might as well both keep switching this throughout the game.
His long ball passing technique is an additional asset in him. While playing as a destroyer especially, he can switch out to both flanks (preferably RHS) where he gets under the ball with minimal risk of intercepting the ball. Can unlock Saka in creating inverted runs from wider areas.
If we see Onana as a DM like Partey, we’ll need him to form a pivot with Rice which would make Rice the Box-to-Box midfielder and progress up the pitch while simultaneously continuing his defensive reign.
The alternative of Onana will allow Arteta to play Ødegaard/Fabio Viera/ESR to play in a more advanced position. Havertz can be given a chance at #9 if we do not end up signing a CF. Personally feel like he’s more of a Box-to-Box rather than a #6.
Amadou Onana to Arsenal – Conclusion:
It also again comes down to the fee that Arsenal would like to offer in comparison to other midfield targets. Expected to be sold for around £50 Million, Arsenal shouldn’t be looking to pay more than £60 Million in my opinion.
Signing a DM does help our attacking situation. It’s not ideal and we still need a striker, but it helps in the short term if we can’t get one.
Onana imposes his presence on the pitch. His low centre of gravity, power, and athleticism allow him to cover ground quickly. His work rate makes him a promising all-around defensive player. Ball winner who plays as #6/#8, who has great potential at #6 but currently plays in a #8 setup.
