Aston Villa seal £50m transfer of Amadou Onana in major statement of intent

Aston Villa have completed the £50million capture of Amadou Onana from Everton.

The Belgian international comes in as a replacement for Douglas Luiz, who left the club for Juventus. Onana has spent two seasons at Goodison Park after signing from Lille in a deal reported to be worth £33m with add-ons.

The purchase is a major statement of intent from Villa boss Unai Emery who is determined to build a squad that can compete on both domestic and European fronts. Onana is a rangy, tough-tackling midfielder who will add extra impetus to Villa’s engine-room.

At 22 years old, he already has several years’ of experience high-level football under his belt and he has agreed a long-term deal with Villa. Villa owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have managed to skirt around any financial fair play issues before the end of June.

And they are now exercising their own muscle in the market with Emery being given considerable resources to ensure that Villa, now they have qualified for the Champions League, try to stay there.

Onana will be joined at Villa Park next week by winger Jaden Philogene, with the 22-year-old set to seal a remarkable return to Villa less than 12 months after being sold to Hull City.

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Philogene was one of the Tigers’ standout stars in the Championship last term and has been linked with a host of Premier League clubs. Ipswich Town agreed a deal worth £18m for Philogene’s services, but Villa inserted a buy-back clause into the deal with Hull last year.

Mirror Football revealed on Friday that Emery had decided to match Ipswich’s offer, with Philogene now expected to be at Villa’s Bodymoor Heath training centre next week.

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