Amadou Onana believes he’s made progress playing under Unai Emery at Aston Villa.
The Belgium international has been speaking at an event organised by a start up from his country. Specially he was at an event for IFREQ: ‘A Belgian startup that evaluates footballers based on psychological, technical, and tactical tests and converts the results into data.’
This provided Het Nieuwsblad an opportunity to have a chat about a few topics, including Aston Villa and his future.
Onana arrived at Villa Park in July 2024, after spending two years at Everton. Prior to his move to Aston Villa, Manchester United were credited with interest. Their efforts weren’t successful as he had already given his word to Emery.
The midfielder has played 55 matches for the Birmingham club, of which 21 are from this season. His game time has been partly restricted due to multiple injuries. To put it in context, he’s missed over 150 days due to injuries since joining Aston Villa.
Emery has utilised the former Toffees man regularly when available for selection, and Onana has improved his game under the Aston Villa manager.
The midfielder mentioned this when the newspaper asked whether he’ll play for one of the top five clubs in the world.
Aston Villa player sees world-class transfer future
Responding to that, Onana said: “Yes, I think one day I’ll make a transfer to a world-class club. That’s really a career goal. I’m 24 and I feel like I’ve matured. In the past few months, I’ve played my best football ever. Emery helped me progress even further.
“After my time at Everton, I was already in contact with top clubs. Ultimately, I chose Aston Villa because I thought it was the right move at the time.”
Meanwhile, Onana says he wants to form a partnership with Aston Villa’s Youri Tielemans and Napoli’s Kevin De Bruyne for Belgium.
“How can I say no when it comes to Tielemans and De Bruyne? They’re players of a very high level,” Onana explained.
“It’s an honour to be part of that triangle, if it’s the one the national coach chooses, of course. (laughs) We complement each other and don’t have to fear anyone.”
