Arsenal have apparently taken the first step towards bolstering their ranks for the 2024-25 season, as a report from the Liverpool Echo claims that contact has been made over a move for Everton 's Amadou Onana . The Belgium international - currently away with his country at Euro 2024 - has already spoken of his desire to represent a distinguished European club at some point in the near future, and Arsenal certainly fit the bill. Mikel Arteta is understood to have been an admirer of Onana's qualities for some time and is known to be chasing a new defensive midfield enforcer in the current window, but it could take around £50m to prise him away from Goodison Park.
Such a price tag should not prove too problematic for a club of Arsenal's calibre, though, and using data from FBRef from the 2023-24 Premier League season, Sports Mole analyses how Onana compares to Gunners trio Declan Rice , Thomas Partey and Jorginho . © Reuters Let us preface this four-way comparison by running down the key appearance numbers first and foremost. Rice was a near-ever present in the Arsenal XI - playing all 38 Premier League games and starting 37 of them - while Onana started 23 of 30, Jorginho 10 of 24 and Partey just nine of 14.
While Rice's defensive midfield mastery is already well-documented, the England international took on the left eight role to excellent effect last season and managed an impressive seven strikes in the Premier League, unsurprisingly the most of the quartet. Both Partey an.
