Everton make offer for Lille midfielder Amadou Onana along with West Ham and Leciester
Everton have made an offer for Belgium international midfielder Amadou Onana amid fierce competition, according to Belgian journalist Sacha Tavolieri.
West Ham have already had a bid of around £20million rejected for the Lille stand-out [Mail], and Leicester City have apparently also made an approach.
He is apparently the “first choice” of Ligue 1 rivals Monaco as well, after a season in France where the 20-year-old made 42 appearances across the French top fight and cup, as well as the Champions League.
Frank Lampard has midfield as a priority area to strengthen during the summer window, with the likes of Harry Winks from Tottenham and Morgan Gibbs-White from Wolves, as well as a number of Chelsea options so far mooted.
Eurosport France journalist Tavolieri wrote on Twitter on Friday evening (8 July) that after offers from Goodison Park, the London Stadium and the King Power it was “advantage Premier League” as Onana’s current side don’t want to give a “gift” to their rivals in France.
In a follow up post he said that the Foxes first need to move on Boubakary Soumaré before they can focus on the young Belgian.
Prospect
After a single season in top flight European football that saw him feature eight times in the world’s Premier club competition and break into the Belgian senior side Onana is an exciting prospect.
With so many sides after him it is uncertain whether the Toffees have the financial firepower to win such a heated race.
But Lampard’s name value as a world-class midfielder in his own career always carries some weight, especially for players of an age who would have grown up seeing him on TV as children.
The youngster is listed at 195cm by Eurosport (six foot four inches) so would represent an imposing presence in the heart of the Toffees midfield.
He hasn’t got much history of scoring or assisting, so would surely be an option to anchor the centre and break up attacks.
With Fabian Delph gone, Jean-Philippe Gbamin still yet to establish himself after a nightmare three years, and Allan repeatedly linked with moves back to Italy, this young prodigy looks a very strong option to man that area for years to come.
He isn’t going to come cheap, but at his age, and having already broken into one of the top international sides in world football under former Everton boss Roberto Martinez, he looks like he would be worth it if the club could afford the outlay.