Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana (Credit: Imago)

Amadou Onana hailed after 'classy' Champions League display, set to start in Aston Villa v Wolves

Senior Scouting Consultant AUTHORITY Former Senior Scout for Tottenham Hotspur, Everton, and Aston Villa; Scandinavian and European talent specialist who discovered Erling Haaland. FOCUS Global recruitment networks, player market valuation, and continental talent acquisition. THE AUDIT Bryan utilises Statscore’s Advanced Scouting Telemetry, including Deep-Data Metrics like Market Value Volatility, Continental Transition Adaptability, and Under-the-Radar Tactical Efficiency. He provides elite-level player profiling to reveal the technical reality behind recruitment that mainstream data ignores.

Published on:

19 Sep 2024, 11:40 am

Bryan King has hailed Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana after his "classy" display in the UEFA Champions League.

The ex-Villa scout believes the 23-year-old should be a mainstay in Unai Emery's side.

Onana started and scored as Villa recorded a 3-0 victory away at Young Boys in the Champions League on Tuesday (17 September).

And King - speaking exclusively to Villa News - was delighted to see the Belgian bounce back after his struggles in the 3-2 win over Everton (14 September).

“It was a very positive night for Villa,” King said.

“However, I think most football people would have expected them to get a result in Switzerland, it was a nice way for them to start the Champions League after a good result at the weekend.

“Onana had half a game against Everton where things didn’t go right for him. It was his former club, he obviously wanted to impress and everything he did went wrong.

“However, he showed his calibre with a classy performance against Young Boys.

“He still needs time to settle down, he only moved to Villa in the summer. After a few years at Everton, he changed his city, club, manager and teammates, a lot of things come into this. Therefore, it takes time for players to settle.

“One reasonably poor display doesn’t define him. I would be very surprised if he doesn’t start the next game. He should be a mainstay in the Villa team, especially playing alongside Youri Tielemans, that should be the start of a very good partnership in midfield.”