Aside from his goals, Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana has quickly become a fundamental presence in Unai Emery’s side after his summer arrival.
As per BBC Sport, Villa paid £50m to land the Belgian international’s signature from Everton, and that fee did raise some eyebrows despite the evident quality that he possesses.
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The 23-year-old is already vastly experienced after enjoying spells at various clubs around Europe, while he has 17 caps for Belgium to his name already.
It’s hoped that he’s now found his long-term home as a crucial figure in Emery’s plans in the coming years, and the early signs are certainly both encouraging and positive.
His goals will of course stand out, as he’s scored two in his first three games as a Villa player, both of which have come from well-crafted set-piece routines that have utilised Onana’s presence in the box as he’s added an important new dynamic to our attacking plans too.
However, his impact has gone well beyond that, and Emery was keen to praise him after our win over Leicester City this weekend, as the Basque coach is evidently delighted with how quickly he has adapted and settled in under his stewardship.
“His adaptation is being very good and he is understanding quickly everything,” he told reporters in his post-match press conference. “We are working with him a lot. He is hungry to grow up because he is young and he has lots of potential. Progressively he is adapting to our structure. His mentality is a good mentality.”
A booking in the eighth minute at the King Power Stadium had a negative impact on his performance as it ultimately hampered him and forced him to adjust his approach to ensure he didn’t pick up a second caution. Further, Onana later picked up a knock which eventually forced him off, and so it’s hoped that it’s nothing serious that will sideline him.
Despite those issues though, he showed resilience and a savviness to his play that allowed him to continue to impose himself on the game and in conjunction with Youri Tielemans, give us an all-important foothold at times to dictate tempo and possession.
That balance in our midfield pivot is not only a joy to watch at times, but it’s proving to be critical to our results, giving us a sense of control on and off the ball with Onana and Tielemans being able to impact both phases.
Villa have lacked height, physicality and presence in the line-up for some time, and Onana ticks all those boxes, while Tielemans is filling that void that was left behind by Douglas Luiz as a creative orchestrator in a deeper midfield role.
Together, we’ve got a highly effective midfield pivot duo, and it will be fascinating to see Boubacar Kamara introduced to that equation when he returns from injury, as Villa will have some midfield at Emery’s disposal.
For now though, it’s been thoroughly enjoyable to see Onana integrate and adapt so quickly, showing his tactical and positional intelligence on the pitch and his ability to learn quickly when others have certainly needed longer to take on Emery’s demands and instructions.
With a hectic September ahead which will start to shape our season, Onana will be the heartbeat of the side going into some big games, and based on what we’ve seen from him thus far, we’ve added a gem to the group who is going to flourish under Emery.
