Amadou Onana

[Dave]

Was he an upgrade on Dougie? No

DL's best for us is still better than Onana's best at time of writing.

It's very obvious that won't be the case at the end of their respective Villa careers.

Obviously there will be different opinions. Being told that you’re not in your right mind for disagreeing with some of them is what I find objectionable.

You've lost me I'm afraid.

[Percy McCarthy]

Was he an upgrade on Dougie? No

DL's best for us is still better than Onana's best at time of writing.

It's very obvious that won't be the case at the end of their respective Villa careers.

Obviously there will be different opinions. Being told that you’re not in your right mind for disagreeing with some of them is what I find objectionable.

You've lost me I'm afraid.

Just recalling a post that said ‘nobody in their right mind’ could think Onana is an upgrade on Luiz.

I thought it was pretty clear after I said it on page 98 of this thread.

[Percy McCarthy]

According to one of our resident experts, ‘nobody in their right mind’ could think he’s an upgrade on Dougie.

There you go.

[Smithy]

At his best, Dougie could do a bit of Onana's job, and a bit of Youri's.  He was a very complete midfielder in our formation at the time, and was a brilliant player for us.  That doesn't mean he was perfect, or that our midfield today isn't better without him in it - but I think it's a bit apples/oranges to directly compare Onana to Dougie at his best.

[Dave]

Was he an upgrade on Dougie? No

DL's best for us is still better than Onana's best at time of writing.

It's very obvious that won't be the case at the end of their respective Villa careers.

Obviously there will be different opinions. Being told that you’re not in your right mind for disagreeing with some of them is what I find objectionable.

You've lost me I'm afraid.

Just recalling a post that said ‘nobody in their right mind’ could think Onana is an upgrade on Luiz.

I thought it was pretty clear after I said it on page 98 of this thread.

Oh, it was just a continuation of your tedious feud with brontebilly.

I assumed it was referring to something that I'd said.

[brontebilly]

He's different to Luiz in what he offers. Luis was more of a ball player and Onana offers dynamism and drive. They were both great but Onana has the potential for a higher ceiling.

I'd add that Onana adds a lot more in defence - either through aerial presence, or those sneaky long-legged tackles when the opposition think they're through.

As paul_e noted: together with our other options, it makes us very well balanced in midfield.

I think the Man City game was making of him. He helped contain Haaland's physicality and his mobility snuffed out Foden

First time he looked like a 50m player and looked like it most of the time since.

Really? Since Man City, he started v West Ham and Man United where he had little impact in either game. Awful in Basel that night too. There's a reason he didn't start v Chelsea.

Despite his mistake v Arsenal for their goal, I thought he played well that day so hoping for a repeat performance tonight. Big night for him, needs to step up without Kamara there and perform like how our record signing should. Tielemans next to him should help.

[LeeB]

I think you might be the only person in the world seeing this, kudos.

[aj2k77]

Luiz had a purple spell for us for 6-12 months. Outside of that period I thought he was very average and sometimes a liability with silly tackles around the edge of the box.

[Ian.]

Ridiculous. From the off Dougie oozed class and had to play so many times as a six under Smith and Gerrard. He always played well and looked a quality player even though it wasn’t his natural position. Once he started more as an eight he suddenly looked world class and he’s been one of my favourite midfielders to play for Villa.

[Rigadon]

I think he had one amazing year playing in a position / team that really suited him under a coach that improved his game massively.  He’s hardly pulled up trees since he left, which is a bit surprising but there’s probably a good reason why he was first to be sacrificed. 

[paul_e]

Ridiculous. From the off Dougie oozed class and had to play so many times as a six under Smith and Gerrard. He always played well and looked a quality player even though it wasn’t his natural position. Once he started more as an eight he suddenly looked world class and he’s been one of my favourite midfielders to play for Villa.

He was a superb talent that needed some guidance to become the player he could be and he wasn't quite getting that until Unai arrived so it was flashes of brilliance but never really sustained top level performances. After the world cup and until he left he was exceptional and was a huge part of our run to 4th, with only really Ollie being more important to us that year.


As for why he left I think that was because he'd made it clear he wanted to go and we put it off for a year to get Youri in and up to speed, I doubt he'd have been pushed out if he hadn't been looking for a move anyway, or at least stalling on a contract, similar with Diaby, Duran and Ramsey.