ASTON VILLA SIGN MIDFIELDER AMADOU ONANA FROM EVERTON IN £50 MILLION PREMIER LEAGUE SWITCH
Aston Villa have sealed the transfer of Amadou Onana from Everton, who has signed a five-year contract for a reported £50 million fee. The Belgium international becomes the seventh player to arrive at Villa Park in the summer transfer window, as Unai Emery’s side prepare for their return to UEFA Champions League football after a stunning fourth-placed finish in the Premier League last term.
Cameron Archer, like Barkley, has also re-joined the club following the terms of his unique deal with Sheffield United, which meant he returned to Villa after The Blades’ relegation last season.
Onana is the second player to join The Villans from Everton in the current transfer window after forward Lewis Dobbin signed for the West Midlands club in June for an undisclosed fee.
Onana is expected to be a replacement for Douglas Luiz, who left the club earlier in the summer to join Italian giants Juventus.
As part of the deal for the Brazilian, 20-year-old Iling-Junior moved in the opposite direction and left the Serie A side for Villa.
Onana represents Belgium at international level and has played 17 times for The Red Devils after making his debut under Roberto Martinez, just two months before he moved to the Premier League.
He played every minute of the nation’s four Euro 2024 matches in Germany this summer before they were eliminated in the last-16 stage by France.
Emery is bolstering his squad ahead of the club’s return to the UEFA Champions League, Europe’s elite club competition.
The Spaniard led Villa to a shock top-four place last campaign, their highest top-flight finish since the 1995/96 season.
And now the Villans have swooped to land the Belgian international in a transfer worth £50m, despite interest from Arsenal and Bayern Munich.
That amount eclipses the £43m they paid to Bayer Leverkusen for Moussa Diaby last ummer.
It was a move which may have indirectly led to one of the most astonishing seasons in club football for the German giants, who landed a league and cup double.
Unai Emery’s Villa side were in need of a replacement for Brazil star Douglas Luiz, who joined Juventus earlier this summer for £42.4m.