Amadou Onana’s usual whipping up of the crowd comes after every Aston Villa win.
He ventures towards the away supporters or, if in the comfort of the West Midlands, towards the Holte End.
Onana stretches both hands in front of him, waiting for the Villa supporters to build the anticipation. Once the “ohssss” are suitably loud, he will then punch the air three times and once more for luck.
Invariably, the club’s social media team post the video and, following particularly significant victories, with other team-mates starring, Onana punches the air with them joining in, sometimes in perfect synchronisation.
Onana has no problem being at the forefront of celebrations. He is a confident, eloquent 24-year-old who is willing to take on the responsibility and pressure of being Villa’s club-record signing. The £50million ($68m) fee does not faze him — he has intrinsic confidence in his skill set with the ambition to play in Europe’s eminent teams.
@avfcofficial #AmadouOnana fist pumps? Yes, please 😤 #astonvilla #PremierLeague ♬ original sound – avfcofficial
Couple his extroverted on-pitch personality and his, in theory, imposing 6ft 4in (195cm) frame that can be equally languid and driving in style, Onana should have all the characteristics to play among the elite.
“He has huge potential,” said Unai Emery earlier this season. “We signed him thinking not of the work he did before at Everton; we signed him thinking of how we can exploit his potential.
“Last year, with some injuries he had, it was a good season, but not really like I think we can get. This year, he is progressively getting better, but his best must come. He must be so, so aggressive and he has improved his mentality.”
Onana has shown marked improvements in specific elements. The Belgium international has started to utilise his physical traits, increasingly aggressive in duels and more willing to dominate his opponent.
There had been a feeling that Onana had all the attributes from a physical and technical standpoint, yet did not always maximise them. He can be a multi-faceted midfielder, allaying concerns from some close observers about his press resistance. He can serve as a deep-lying midfielder, an athletic No 8 or even a box-crasher.
Fundamentally, however, the recurring sticking point keeps coming back to injuries.
NFL coach Bill Parcells once said, “the best ability is availability”, and that sentiment rings true in Onana’s case. He returned to Villa’s starting lineup for the 1-1 away draw to Bournemouth, having missed out a week before against Brentford due to what Emery described as “tiredness in his muscles.” He had featured in 55 of 91 matches since arriving in July 2024 and has suffered seven separate injuries, five of them hamstring issues.
“The challenges he has are there,” Emery explained last week. “It is trying to be consistent. He is sometimes having small injuries — two, three, four weeks out at a time. He is very important. His potential is still there. When he’s playing 100 per cent, his performances have been fantastic and progressing a lot. In the last matches he’s played, he was really fantastic.”
The necessity of Onana staying fit has lately grown in importance. The triple injury blow of John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Boubacar Kamara — who has the best points-per-match ratio (2.43) of any Premier League player — has increased his dependency. Onana’s availability can no longer be a luxury.
“In two weeks, we are changing a lot in the middle,” Emery added. “Now we must again build our structure strong in the key position of the middle.”
Onana has spent time in the gym and with doctors to understand his injury problems and how best to manage the risks. His athletic gait, with long limbs and playing in a physically taxing position, can be prone to muscle issues. Away to Bournemouth, Onana was paired with Douglas Luiz for the first time, the man the former had been brought in to replace.
They worked at the base of midfield, tasked with winning their duels against Bournemouth’s aggressive, man-marking system and, in some ways linked, finding the feet of Morgan Rogers, who was frequently spare.
The tempo was hard and fast with turnovers aplenty. The midfield duo had to scrap while retaining composure of equal measure, so it was heartening for Douglas Luiz to have recorded the most passes of any player by half-time, with Onana completing the most by the final whistle.
Amadou Onana dominated in the air against Bournemouth (Peter Tarry/PA Images via Getty Images)
The match illustrated Onana’s frailties and strengths. There were times when he was limping, having received a knock to the back of his leg, and there were other occasions when Onana would open up his stride and bypass his direct marker, Alex Scott, so effortlessly that it made you wonder why he does not do it all the time.
The former Everton midfielder had three midfield partners in the second half, with Ross Barkley and Lamare Bogarde filling in alongside as Emery shuffled his pack, attempting to invigorate his team. Villa had taken the lead in the first half through Morgan but toiled in the second, unable to play as incisively after Andoni Iraola tightened his midfield.
To his credit, Onana remained at the heart of the battle and was evidently key to Villa staving off Bournemouth’s set-play threat. Villa’s set-piece coach Austin MacPhee would bark “Yes, Ama!” before deliveries came into the box, with Onana heading away six times from corners or long throws. “He did a fantastic job,” Emery concluded.
This contributed to the midfielder making more defensive interventions than any player on the pitch. Villa had to lean on defensive resilience after Rayan dribbled past Lucas Digne’s ghost-like defending to level the scores. Emery’s side appeared strangely leggy, as if having a week between games caused more lethargy than looking well-rested.
The draw was not ideal, but could have been worse. The display and its second-half flatness underlined Onana’s value in serving as the glue to hold a new-look midfield together — provided he stays fit.