Exclusive: Keep an eye on £50m Arsenal transfer opportunity, says expert
Arsenal have been linked with Everton midfielder Amadou Onana and Charles Watts has stated it could be a transfer story to keep an eye on this summer as he spoke exclusively to CaughtOffside for his weekly Daily Briefing column.
Watts has some reservations about Onana as he’s not always been the most consistent performer at Goodison Park, though he has been hugely impressed by some of the Belgium international’s displays and described him as someone Arsenal could see as a good opportunity on the market at a price of just £50million.
Onana might not be the most polished player just yet, but he’s still only 22 years of age and has made an impressive start to life in the Premier League, having previously also caught the eye during his time with Lille in Ligue 1.
It remains to be seen if Onana will end up being Arsenal’s top target in midfield, but it’s certainly a position they could do with strengthening for next season as Thomas Partey isn’t getting any younger and missed a lot of games through injury last term.
Onana transfer to Arsenal discussed by Gunners writer Charles Watts
Discussing the Onana to Arsenal saga, Watts said: “Amadou Onana is a player who has consistently been linked with Arsenal over the past 12 months.
“There were strong reports in January that talks were at an advanced stage, although I was always told that wasn’t the case and that nothing was close to happening at that stage. Whether that changes this summer remains to be seen, but it may be one to keep an eye on.
“We know Arsenal are in the market for at least one midfielder this summer and Onana is one of a number of players they have been monitoring.
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“I’ll always remember his performance against Arsenal at Goodison last year. It was Sean Dyche’s first game in charge of Everton and Onana was absolutely exceptional.
“It was one of the best midfield performances I’ve seen from a player. I was sitting in the press box at Goodison watching him thinking ‘this guy is incredible’. He was absolutely everywhere. He was strong, physical, he was running box to box, winning tackles and driving Everton forward. It was one of those individual performances from a player that just sticks in your mind.
“The thing with Onana, when you talk to people who watch him week in, week out, is that those types of performances are few and far between.
“He can be excellent on his day, but then he can be quite ordinary for a few weeks in a row. And that would be my worry about Arsenal signing him, especially if he were to be the only midfielder to arrive this summer.
“In my opinion, Arsenal need a midfielder who can come in and immediately raise the ceiling of this team and I’m not sure he does that. I think he would be a work in progress, someone Mikel Arteta and his coaching staff would have to really work on to get the best out of him consistently.
“It could be a good market opportunity though. I’m not an expert when it comes to Everton’s financial issues right now, but it seems pretty clear that they are struggling again with PSR issues and a big sale could be needed.”
He added: “A price tag of around £50m is being mentioned and that could be appealing to interested clubs given his age and profile.”
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