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Everton’s Amadou Onana failing to thrive in new defensive role – journalist

Everton's Amadou Onana failing to thrive in new defensive role - journalist - Everton News

The Athletic’s Greg O’Keeffe believes that Amadou Onana’s deficiencies in defending could end up costing Everton in games to come.

The Lowdown: Onana has been a big success at Goodison Park

Everton are in a relegation scrap despite spending over £65m on new players last summer, although things have turned around under Sean Dyche with three wins since his arrival – the same number Frank Lampard managed earlier in the season.

However, one of the success stories of this season has been the impact Onana has made on the team, having made the most tackles out of any other Everton player (FBref), which saw him linked with a move away in January.

The Belgium international was compared to France midfielders Paul Pogba and Aurelien Tchouameni by journalist Julien Laurens before he made the switch to Goodison Park, but Dyche may well have stifled some of his talent since taking over from Lampard.

The Latest: Everton must get the most out of Onana

Despite his impressive displays thus far in an Everton shirt, O’Keeffe claimed on the All Together Now podcast that he could cost the Toffees if he keeps being played in a more defensive role to incorporate Abdoulaye Doucoure into the team.

He said: “He’s very much still getting to grips with the Premier League. I know he’s gone to a World Cup and all this, but this is still a player who’s come over from Ligue 1 in France and is trying to adjust to the Premier League, and defensively, the speed of the game.

“I like his tackling technique, but I think it’s going to take a while to get the timing just right, and he is – as you’ve rightly said – going to pick up bookings and he might cost us sometimes.

“I think maybe he’s a bit better further forward breaking, like almost [more of] a box-to-box role, but at the moment, Doucoure seems to be doing that better.”

The Verdict: Still taking time for Onana to adapt

The fact that clubs such as Arsenal and Chelsea were showing an interest in Onana back in January when he’d only played a handful of games shows the talent that Everton have on their hands, although he is still raw at this level.

Therefore, given his potential and talent, it would make sense for Dyche to be playing him in a more natural and less risky position of defensive midfield, especially as he clearly struggles to tackle, with eight yellow cards to his name already.

Onana was never going to arrive at Everton as the finished article having never played in the Premier League before – he’s still very young and is also having to play in a struggling Toffees side, so he’s not able to adapt and learn from too many top-quality players at the moment.

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