Arsenal have shown interest in the 20-year-old Belgian midfielder, Amadou Onana. He plays for the French side, Lille. Onana made the switch to Lille last season from Hamburger SV. He became a regular for Lille in his first season, and his performances caught the eye of some of the top European clubs. Lille struggled to defend the league title and finished tenth last season. They played in the UEFA Champions League last season but failed to qualify for any European competition this season. Onana will aim to play in one of the European competitions, and that might lure him away from Lille. The French side made it to the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League last season, and the Belgian made an appearance in every match. The stats below show why Arsenal are thinking about bringing the midfielder to North London.
Onana made appearances in all eight games for the French side in the UEFA Champions League. He started in two matches and came off the bench in the other six. The above viz shows the heat map of the player. He featured as a central midfielder whose main focus was providing defensive cover for his backline. His average position was in the middle third, and the player took very few touches inside the attacking third.
The midfielder attempted 87 passes last season but had a low accuracy rate of 79.3%. The above viz shows the pass start location and the threat created from passes at different time intervals. We can observe that the player attempted most of the passes from the middle third. He went wide on the left side and attempted a few passes from that position. Most of the passes attempted were sideways passes, and some of them were attempted toward the wide players and full-backs. This shows that the player can create attacks from midfield and distribute the ball into dangerous areas.
One of the areas where the player showed quality was on the defensive side. Onana was involved in 10.10 defensive actions per 90 minutes with a success rate of 84.85%. The above viz shows all the duels that were contested by the 20-year-old. He averaged 6.12 defensive duels, 4.59 aerial duels, and 4.59 loose ball duels per 90 minutes. The player won 45% of the defensive duels, 53.33% of the aerial duels, and 40% of the loose ball duels. He also made eight interceptions and 27 recoveries. Of these, he made five inside the opposition’s penalty box. The player contested most of the duels in the middle third and mostly towards the left side.
Arsenal require a central midfielder who can perform consistently at the top level. They are looking for a replacement for Granit Xhaka. Amadou Onana could become a future leader at Arsenal, and the club could benefit a lot by acquiring his services.
