Amadou Onana was by far the biggest signing Everton made last summer but with his club’s Premier League status on the line the midfielder now needs to produce the kind of performances to match both his stature and £33.5million price tag.
At almost 6ft 5in, most of Onana’s team-mates look up to him but while he’s head and shoulders above many others within the Blues side and undoubtedly a precocious talent, he remains a novice at this level and sometimes it shows. Back in February, shortly after Sean Dyche’s arrival, Steven Defour, now head coach of his home city club Mechelen, told the ECHO how he was mentoring fellow Belgian Onana about how to become a better all-round Premier League midfielder after being sounded out by his former Burnley boss and, although he identified the intelligent 21-year-old as a keen student, it seems as though he still has plenty to learn.
Onana’s presence in the engine room was sorely missed when he missed Everton’s games against Fulham and Crystal Palace with a groin injury. But any hopes that he’d be back bossing the midfield when he returned against Newcastle United were dashed as despite a few nice touches, particularly early on – the kind of moments that look good in highlight reels but bring little in terms of influencing the game – he was quiet before making way for Neal Maupay on 73 minutes, with his biggest flashpoint being a reckless booking (his eighth of the season) shortly before the break for a tug on Bruno Guimaraes’ shirt. An examination of Onana’s display on Comparisonator paints a clearer picture of just what his display was like.
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While he worked hard out of possession with his 23 defensive actions way above both his own (13.95) and the Premier League average (13.25) for players in his position, 20 of which were successful, opposed to his usual 10.75 or his peers’ 8.06, Onana was less effective when he got the ball. His six successful passes to the final third was slightly down on his average of 6.52, which in itself is an area for improvement with others in his position averaging 10.56, while his three attacking actions were again lower than his average of 3.87, in turn below the Premier League average of 4.67, with a similar story for successful attacking actions of which there was just one, a drop from the 1.99 he’s averaged and again less than the 2.55 of his contemporaries.
Such figures aren’t wildly different than what we’ve come to expect from Onana. But one area that suffered a far more dramatic drop off, though, came in the one-on-one battles he usually dominates opponents in given his colossal frame. Defensive numbers were again up in impressive fashion with offensive duels/offensive duels won (8/6) both more than Onana’s usual 6.22/3.93 or the Premier League central midfielder averages of 6.36 and 2.82. But he contested just four offensive duels opposed to the division average of 7.84 or his own higher figure of 10.99 and this resulted in two offensive duels won, less than the 3.58 from others in his role or his personal 5.74.
As the season now enters its final month, Everton need their most-gifted players such as Onana to stand up and be counted, starting with Monday night’s survival head-to-head at Leicester City, who are also in the relegation zone. The fixture at the King Power Stadium puts him up against another compatriot in his position, Youri Tielemans who he has replaced of late in the Belgium national team since coming on as a half-time substitute for him in the 1-0 win over Canada in their opening game of the World Cup finals.
The 25-year-old has just returned to fitness himself after spending almost two months on the sidelines with torn ankle ligaments and completed his first 90 minutes back in the Foxes’ 1-1 draw at fellow strugglers Leeds United last time out. Onana doesn’t just need to be winning personal battles though but starting to dictate whole matches.
Despite having only been at the club for less than five months at the time, he reportedly attracted admiring glances from both Arsenal and Chelsea during the January transfer window but after staying put and helping Everton to a 1-0 win over the former in Dyche’s first game in charge, footage taken from the Goodison Park tunnel following the full-time whistle showed him proclaiming: “I’m not f****** going nowhere, I’m f****** staying here.” Now it’s time to back up that bold statement by letting his football do the talking and ensure Onana’s first year on Merseyside does not end in the ignominy of the Blues’ first relegation in 72 years.
Comparisonator is a football data comparison tool from 271 professional leagues around the world which compares players and clubs by utilising over 100 different parameters. Click here for more details.
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