Why Thomas Tuchel will be keeping an eye on Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana until World Cup 2026
When Unai Emery names his Aston Villa line-up to face Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium, England manager Thomas Tuchel will be ready to take notes.
Tuchel will have an eye on Villa’s England players. Ollie Watkins, Morgan Rogers and Ezri Konsa are all likely to start the Premier League match that ends the first half of the 2025/26 and indeed the calendar year.
But a pair of Belgium internationals will also be of interest to Tuchel as he gears up to face Croatia, Ghana and Panama at World Cup 2026 next summer.
How Villa might solve an England selection problem
Emery must find a solution to the one-match suspension of midfielder Boubacar Kamara and both Amadou Onana and Youri Tielemans will play a part.
The roles given to the Belgium pair will have a knock-on effect on Villa’s attacking plans, too.
With Watkins and Onana coming on as part of the triple substitution that won Villa their most recent match against Chelsea, Emery pushed Tielemans into the number 10 position and moved Rogers back into the wider position where he’s thrived in recent fixtures.
Emery likes to play Rogers centrally; with Emi Buendía back in the side at Stamford Bridge, Rogers reverted to the 10 from kick-off. But the Villa boss has also benefited during Villa’s exceptional run from a very effective use of his midfield depth.
Villa have played Kamara, Onana, Tielemans, John McGinn, Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde in central midfield this season and Emery has found a combination that allows him to deploy four of his preferred players without compromising his system.
The best performances have been achieved with four of those central midfielders on the pitch – McGinn on the right of the front line off Watkins, Tielemans in the 10, Kamara and Onana partnered in the middle.
It was the exact configuration that wasn’t working early in the season but it’s certainly working now, and it’s easy to see from the last 30 minutes against Chelsea why Emery likes to have Onana in his midfield.
Is Morgan Rogers England’s best number 10?
The key to Emery’s first-choice midfield is Onana’s availability. It’s been far from assured and the obvious response to his injuries – just as it will be in Kamara’s absence against Arsenal – is to play Tielemans in the double pivot and Rogers back in the 10.
But Rogers on the left has been fruitful for Villa and it might even answer a big question for Tuchel too. He’s been playing out of his skin and the longer Onana can stay fit, the more time Rogers will spend on the left of Villa’s three.
It is generally a free role for him, and usually a narrow one, but not exclusively. Against West Ham United, Emery played Rogers and McGinn essentially as wingers, helping to stifle Jarrod Bowen among other positive consequences.
Tuchel is clearly a big Rogers fan and my sense is that he’ll be looking for any opportunity to get him on the pitch at the World Cup.
The debate during the autumn was whether the Three Lions would play with Rogers or Jude Bellingham behind captain Harry Kane. Rogers has done the business for England lately, while Bellingham’s standing appears to have been damaged for various reasons.
Nevertheless, the expectation will be that Bellingham plays. Tuchel isn’t the kind of manager to do as he’s told but selecting Bellingham isn’t a difficult decision.
If Onana stays fit and in favour, if Rogers keeps flanking Tielemans, it might not be Bellingham but Anthony Gordon who finds himself in competition with Rogers.
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