Two seasons ago, Everton took an expensive gamble on midfielder Amadou Onana, who had shown great but uneven potential at Lille. His market value then was three times less than what Everton ended up paying (35M). Some referred to this signing as a glaring example of Everton’s recent unsuccessful transfer policy that had got them into PSR problems and which translated this season in multiple points deductions.
Eighteen months later, however, Everton are plotting a big-money sale for Onana as they look to streghten the squad. Onana, now an established member of Belgium starting XI and a key player at Everton, will leave big shoes to fill in midfield. He has been indispensable for Sean Dyche in driving the team forward and winning the midfield battle but also in tracking runners and closing spaces defensively. His mobility also allowed Everton to shift from a medium or low block to a high-pressing structure and still maintain its compact, aggressive and efficient style.
Should the Dakar-born player leaves the club, Everton would have to keep an eye on the transfer market to see whether they make a move for a similar player in terms of style or they decide to shake that role a bit and find a different player. To help them find an alternative to Onana, we’ve created a list of players. We will be looking for U27 players, with a market value of 20 million or less, who primarily excel in terms of physicality but also in recovering the ball and play quick passes to launch constant transitions. Of course, we are not forgetting about aerial duels, of course they have to be at least good in the kind of scenarios that every Premier League enjoyer would associate with Sean Dyche.
Everton does not need to go too far to find one of the most similar profiles to Amadou Onana. Norway’s Sander Berge has two seasons of Premier League experience plus two more playing in the always tough Championship. Last campaign was his first one at Burnley and Kompany introduced him to a very different approach to the one he was used to play at Sheffield United, which had arguably more similarities with Sean Dyche’s Everton.
Berge ability to not get dribbled past has been at the same level as Onana’s this last season. Although the Norwegian is a bit more static (tell me a player more mobile than Amadou Onana) and has played as the defensive-minded midfielder with Kompany, sitting deep and spreading the play, he can as well progress the ball via carrying or passing it as he showed under Chris Wilder at Sheffield United.
In terms of passing ability, Berge has a higher percentage of passes completed but a lesser percentage of forward passes completed than Onana.
Sander Berge recently changed teams (from Sheffield to Burnley) and got relegated. However, Burnley will make the most of the parachute payments and will try to keep him and price Everton out. He’s not the youngest (26) and if Everton are looking to use they buy-low-sell-high formula that worked wonders with Onana, it would be difficult to make as much profit from this one.
Our next option is Hoffenheim’s Anton Stach, who has just finished his fourth Bundesliga season. This 194cm-tall midfielder is a carbon copy of the Belgian in terms of ball-winning and aerial efficiency. He’s also an above average progressor of the ball, with 7.9 passes that travel 10 or more meters and 3.84 carries that take the ball 10 meters or more upfield per game. However, just as Berge, he has experienced his first season at Die Kraichgauer, so Everton would be forced to show its Premier League economic strength. His value is set around 15M.
On the positive side, his reading of the game looks really assured. He quickly realizes where opponents passes are going to land. He is the player with the most ball interceptions in Europe’s top five leagues: 2.54 ball interceptions per 90′. To put that into context, third on the list Nemanja Matic averages 2.01, a big 0.5 behind Stach and Ugarte (2.49). A negative note could be his security in possession, he does not take the best of positions sometimes when receiving and that makes him an easy target for opponents to take the ball off him.
¿What if Everton look for a complete destructive player with little on-ball value to offer? That player could well be Mallorca’s Copa del Rey finalist Samu Costa. This 23-year-old Portuguese offers an awful lot defensively (recoveries, tackles, aerial efficiency) but he’s nearly a zero to the left in terms of his passing game and offensive contribution. However, he could be useful in scenarios in which Everton are pressing high and also putting emphasis on counter-pressing. He has played alongisde Manu Morlanes and Sergi Darder at Mallorca but he has only played as the lonely pivot for Mallorca. Ideally, he would need to be partnered with a possession-minded player like James Gardner. Everton could take example of Marco Silva’s use of Palhinha, covering his on-ball limitations with a clear focus on his defensive abilities. After two years at Los Bermellones, he could be a good option for Dyche.
Ramiz Zerrouki is in the can-do-a-bit-of everything template. He hasn’t played in neither of the top five leagues but he has already mastered the Eredivisie. After two seasons at Twente, the Algerian defensive midfielder joined Feyernoord and won the league in his first season. Although he’s been available to play 34 matches, he’s only seen a 46% of the minutes. We have to consider that his team has been a level or two above the rest of the league but he has participated in building up a great amount of xG and has helped massively in progressing the ball, also his defensive game is quite complete. Given his limited participation, we checked the real weight he has had in the team and things became a bit more normal. He’d still be a great pick up for Everton as he’s valued at 9M and has international experience with his nation.
Last but not list, we have included an interesting, young option in Amir Richardson, the French-Moroccan Reims midfielder who has played 1492 minutes in his first ever Ligue 1 season. This 22-year-old has been deployed as a ‘6’ or a first-phase midfielder and also as a ‘8’ or bot-to-box. He has technical quality to drive the ball but also to shield and protect it from opponents. He possess great passing variety and he combines ability to pass forward with capacity to recycle the play and organize the team.
His defensive body of work is fairly good: he makes an above average number of tackles and does not get dribbles past so often. His 197 cm look well on him but needs to improve on his aerials won percentage.
His carrying ability is pretty decent and he’s averaging 6.45 carries. He does well to progress the ball and very often arrives in dangerous positions either to take the shot or to assist a teammate.
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