Barcelona have been searching for a physical midfielder that comes in the mould of Yaya Toure and for Barca's sporting director Deco, no player fits the bill better than Everton's Amadou Onana, sources say.
Onana has been showcasing his abilities in the English Premier League with rumours linking him to top clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United.
According to AS, Onana will cost Barca around €40m in the summer. It's a decent player for a workaholic defensive midfielder but Barca cannot cough up that summer without offloading some players first.
Players like Frenkie De Jong and Ronald Araujo could be placed on the chopping board as their sale will bring the financial windfall Barca needs to escape FFP sanctions while signing players like Onana.
Onana will naturally replace Oriol Romeu in Barca's midfield with the Spaniard having underperformed since arriving from Girona.
Stats show Onana is exactly the sort of player Barca have desperately lacked for years as he's a tough tackler and water-carrier brand of midfielder who operates box-to-box.
Over the past year, FBref's graph shows Onana is among the top 21% of defensive midfielders in Europe for tackles and among the top 7% for aerial duels.
It shows Barca that Barca eyeing a powerful midfield workhorse. The question is, can they afford him?
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