Dan Bardell: Everton find 'long-term replacement for Onana' as medical due to new signing

Dan Bardell has backed Tim Iroegbunam to replace Amadou Onana at Everton after his move from Aston Villa moved closer to being completed.

Fabrizio Romano has reported (20 June) that the Toffees have agreed a £9million deal for the 20-year-old with a “medical to follow”.

This would be the Toffees’ first signing of the summer despite the uncertainty over ownership with Dan Friedkin potentially taking over.

Sky Sports and talkSPORT journalist Bardell has backed him as a potential Onana replacement who has been linked away from Goodison Park.

Speaking exclusively to Goodison News, Bardell said: “I think it’s a decent price for Villa and Everton with how inflated fees are nowadays, you can’t get many players for less than £5m in the Premier League so I understand the fee.

“He’s a player with a lot of potential, a lot of good traits and plenty of natural ability. You can see him as a sort of long-term replacement for Onana if he is utilised in the right way.

“He’s still quite raw and is highly rated by his coaches like Chris Brunt who worked with him at West Brom.

“He hasn’t necessarily shown that at Villa but at Everton he could be given the room to grow and maybe Sean Dyche’s system could be easier to acclimatise to for him.“

Everton set to sign Tim Iroegbunam from Aston Villa

The England youth international was hardly given a chance to impress at Villa Park last season so he is hard to fully judge.

Unai Emery clearly never fancied him as a player in his setup even when injuries ravaged his squad towards the end of the season.

This summer there is a likelihood that Everton will be forced into selling stars like Jarrad Branthwaite or Onana with Arsenal interested in the latter.

If he is to leave there would be a gap in Dyche’s squad and Iroegbunam could potentially step up to fill that void next season.

Despite being just 20 years old, he is a physical player but has plenty of ability with the ball at his feet which makes him quite unique.

He is not an out-and-out defensive midfielder, like Onana, so could be a perfect replacement option for the Belgian at the cost of just £9m this summer.

In other Everton news, Player close to confirming that he has returned to Goodison Park.

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