Amadou Onana is attracting plenty of attention at the moment, with Arsenal interested in securing his services.
The Everton midfielder is currently representing Belgium at Euro 2024.
Amadou Onana has now established himself as a starter for his country.
Meanwhile, Arsenal are now keen to sign Onana this summer. Mikel Arteta wants to bolster his midfield continent ahead of the new campaign.
As things stand, the Gunners could be well be facing a dearth of depth in the middle of the park next season. Mohamed Elneny has already left the club, whilst at this stage in his career midfield veteran Jorginho can no longer start matches week in, week out.
On top of that, Arsenal are now keen to cash in on Thomas Partey. It is clear, then, that additional support for Declan Rice is very much required at the Emirates Stadium.
Onana could provide a solution for the North London club. He is a tough-tackling, physically imposing presence in the middle of the park, and would add steel to the spine of Arteta’s team.
However, his ability to make an impact in the final third is certainly limited, meaning that he can only really be deployed as a No. 6, at the base of the midfield, protecting the back four. If he is to feature alongside Rice, that forces the former West Ham United man to adopt a more advanced role.
The England star has proven that he can thrive in this position. However, Arteta may wish to still be able to take advantage of Rice’s versatility by bringing in another midfielder who can also operate as a No. 6 and as a No. 8, allowing for rotation and interchange within matches.
In any case, it is vital that Arsenal find the ideal partner for Rice this summer. In the meantime, Onana’s full focus will be fixed upon the Euros.
Belgian press hail Arsenal target Amadou Onana after Euro 2024 win v Romania
Onana starred in the middle of the park on Saturday as Belgium beat Romania 2-0 in their second group stage game of the summer tournament.
Belgian publication Walfoot rated the 22-year-old’s performance as a 7.5/10 and stated: “Much more comfortable in this role of omnipotent sentinel, almost alone in the face of a Romanian environment that is admittedly less inspired than Lobotka. Great openings, no unnecessary risk-taking: a boss.”
Meanwhile, Arsenal winger and Onana’s international teammate Leandro Trossard has been enduring a much tougher time of things in Germany.
Trossard’s father recently criticised Belgium manager Domenico Tedesco, as the winger has struggled to impress at Euro 2024 so far.
Arsenal winners and losers at Euro 2024
In this week’s episode, Will Jones and Rahul Lakhani discussed the first few days of the European Championships. With Arsenal players such as Kai Havertz and Kieran Tierney experiencing mixed starts to the tournament, the pair assessed which Gunners were the winners and losers from the group stages so far.
There was some talk about transfers based off the Euros, with Arsenal-linked Amadou Onana’s display for Belgium discussed, whilst Leandro Trossard’s poor performance was analysed, and Bukayo Saka’s sensational England showing lauded.