Troy Deeney makes Amadou Onana admission after Aston Villa win v Leicester
Unai Emery will feel his decision to sign Amadou Onana from Everton has already been justified as Aston Villa beat Leicester City on Saturday (31 August).
Eyebrows were raised during the summer transfer window when the Villans splashed £50million on the former Everton midfielder [BBC Sport], who had a mixed spell on Merseyside before his move.
Arriving as a box-to-box midfielder, the 23-year-old Belgian has already started to thrive at Villa Park, scoring his second goal in three matches as Emery’s side claimed a 2-1 win over the Foxes.
Onana sparked the victory, with Jhon Duran later adding a second before Facundo Buonanotte got one back for the home side at the King Power Stadium, and Troy Deeney was full of praise for the midfielder.
Writing via his BBC Sport Team of the Week on Monday (2 September), Deeney said: “I was at this game and he was miles better than anybody else. He ran through people.
“When he came off, Aston Villa looked like they could lose the game. He had been running away from people and putting in massive tackles.”
Amadou Onana impresses as Aston Villa secure win over Leicester City
While Onana is still a very raw player, in terms of talent, there is no understating the importance of his impact at Villa Park already, helping to secure wins over West Ham and Leicester.
The midfielder has already recorded half of his Everton goal tally since joining Emery’s ranks, racking up an xG of 1.11 in his first three matches for the Villans [FotMob].
Onana left the field after 62 minutes, having maintained a 92 per cent passing accuracy, firing 100 per cent of his shots on target, completing 100 per cent of his dribbles as well as 100 per cent of his crosses.
Despite these impressive stats, his defensive abilities still leave a little to be desired, only winning 17 per cent of his ground duels and being dribbled past once, but Emery will be confident that he can be moulded.
He was sacrificed at half-time due to picking up a yellow card, already committing four fouls, and he must stamp those out if he is to become an integral part of the Villa squad.
All-in-all, though, his performances since arriving at Villa Park show he has been worth every penny paid to Everton.
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