Aston Villa director shares what Amadou Onana did after Everton rejected first bid

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Everton knew going into the summer that sacrifices would have to be made, but in the end, those that left were largely amicable exits.

Ben Godfrey wanted to challenge himself at a new level, whilst Lewis Dobbin had little future at Goodison Park. Neal Maupay had also burnt almost every bridge with the fanbase, so his departure was welcomed, whilst the £50m gained for Amadou Onana was widely recognised as fine business.

However, the suggestion has now been that they could have potentially got even more for his services, after what Aston Villa’s director of football has claimed.

Aston Villa’s director of football reviews Amadou Onana transfer

Speaking to The Athletic about their side’s impressive transfer window, Monchi and Damian Vidagany were unsurprisingly pleased with their business.

After all, many feared for their ability to spend freely with PSR looming, but Villa’s president of football operations and director of football combined well to get plenty of high-profile and progressive deals over the line.

Onana was one such example, and now Vidagany has sought to outline a timeline of the transfer and how they reacted to the Toffees initial rebuttal.

He claimed: ‘When Kamara comes back, we need a player who can play with him. When Kamara is not here, we need a player who can play alone. When Onana is not, Kamara can play.

‘I do not want to go into the figures (on Onana). The first request we received, we said OK and didn’t talk to Everton for one month because it was impossible. But then the market moved and Onana wanted to come to Villa. We had an impression when Onana understood what Unai wanted from him — he was rejecting one of the top, top clubs in this country.

‘The manager of that club met Onana, and Onana said he wanted to go to Villa. It was a sign of commitment.’

Onana has already spoken about loving life after Everton.

Everton’s Amadou Onana replacement is already thriving

Although it was tough to lose the Belgium international, and seeing him hit the ground running at Villa Park makes it even tougher to take, Everton’s replacement for the midfield enforcer has also been an instant revelation for the Toffees.

That does somewhat ease the blow, and ironically, he came from the Villans as well.

Snagging Tim Iroegbunam for a mere £9m could end up going down as one of the finest pieces of business in the club’s recent history, given the signs he is already showing.

A tall, physical player who is technically proficient as well, his calmness in possession is so refreshing, as is his desperation to progress the ball forward.

The 21-year-old is averaging 0.7 key passes and four tackles per game in the Premier League, winning the ball back a further 7.7 times per game as well, via Sofascore.

Despite walking into a struggling side, he has shone with his no-nonsense and measured approach to the midfield.

Once their form returns and the entire team starts performing well, it’s exciting to see how Iroegbunam can take his game to the next level after already stealing the show thus far.