Martin Keown raves about ‘excellent’ Amadou Onana after what he did for Aston Villa
Martin Keown was shocked by the quality of Amadou Onana on his Aston Villa debut against West Ham United.
The Belgian international started for the Villans in their opening-day Premier League win against the Hammers.
The 23-year-old moved to Villa Park from Everton for a club-record fee earlier in the window and took to Unai Emery’s side like a duck to water.
Former Villa defender Keown raved about the midfielder’s performance in his column for the Daily Mail on 24 August (page 8 of football pullout).
He said: “Amadou Onana surprised me with an excellent debut for Villa. Their £50million record signing dovetailed seamlessly into midfield alongside Youri Tielemans at West Ham.”
Martin Keown gives glowing Amadou Onana Aston Villa review
The Villa faithful are already loving their new man after his first competitive appearance for the club at the London Stadium.
The supporters will now be excited for the upcoming clash against Arsenal on Saturday (24 August) as he could be a key player once again.
The Villans had been questioned for bringing the Belgian in from the Toffees as a replacement for Douglas Luiz, but he silenced any doubters with ease.
Across the 90 minutes against the Hammers, Onana clocked up 51 touches and fulfilled Emery’s tactical approach with a 97 per cent pass accuracy from 31 attempts [FotMob].
He kept up a positive passing performance throughout with two accurate long balls and one into the final third.
This was combined with an excellent defensive showing which made life difficult for the West Ham midfield on the day.
The 23-year-old won 10 duels, made three clearances, two interceptions and six recoveries in a dominant showing on his debut [WhoScored].
Onana also completed 100 per cent of his attempted dribbles in a further sign of what he can bring to the side [Sofascore].
This was all capped off with a goal after just four minutes, slamming home a header from just yards out after a perfect Tielemans corner.
That one goal is already just one short of matching his best in a single league campaign [FBref], having netted two for Hamburg in 2.Bundesliga in 2020-21 and two for Everton in the Premier League in 2023-24.
It was the dream start for Onana in claret and blue, getting every Villa supporter on side in one game.
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