Sean Dyche has praised a ‘very good’ performance from Amadou Onana today.
Speaking to BBC Sport, the Everton manager admitted he was impressed with the midfielder but added that he still has to ‘keep learning’.
Onana arrived from Lille in a £33.5 million deal last summer and was thrown in at the deep end, making 33 appearances in the Premier League as he helped the Toffees avoid relegation.
The 22-year-old has struggled with consistency this time round and has picked up plenty of criticism, while he was initially supposed to start from the bench against Bournemouth today.
The Belgian was forced to make way for Jack Harrison ahead of the clash at Goodison Park, however an injury to Idrissa Gueye before kick-off meant Onana had another chance to impress.
The midfielder was one of many brilliant players on Merseyside and Dyche was quick to recognise his performance.
“It’s tough, we’ve been trying to find the right mixture of players to win the game,” Dyche said.
“He’s come in at the last minute and done very well. We know he’s a good player, we know he can keep maturing and keep learning. I thought those two [Onana and Garner] were very good today.”
Who starts vs Liverpool?
Everton will be wishing it wasn’t the international break next week as this would have been the perfect time for them to play Liverpool, off the back of a brilliant 3-0 hammering of Bournemouth.
In the mean time, Dyche will have to consider his options and decide which midfield to go with. In any other fixture, you would stick with the starting line-up that claimed the three points. However, a trip to Anfield is full of risks.
Of course, it will entirely depend on Gueye’s injury anyway. But it is whether Dyche believes that Onana is at that level of maturity to perform well in such a high-pressure situation.
The inclusion of James Garner and Abdoulaye Doucoure feels like a given at this point, so Onana and Gueye will now have a job of winning Dyche around.
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