Everton’s Andre Onana is a ‘super talent’ but must curb the ruthless streak if he is to adapt from the Premier League to the international stage with Belgium.
Domenico Tedesco’s side were 3-1 up and cruising away at Austria on Friday night. Well, that was until Andre Onana clattered into an opposition midfielder and paid the price with early bath, leaving Belgium hanging on with around 15 minutes to go in a game they had been strolling before the Everton youngster’s moment of mis-timed madness.
Onana is now facing the second suspension of his short-lived international career. He missed the group-stage clash with Croatia at the Qatar World Cup last year too, after picking up yellow cards in the two previous first-round fixtures.
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“We see that Onana’s strength is also his weakness. He sometimes goes too hard,” reporter Frank Raes tells Sjotcast for Het Nieuwsblad.
“We saw it at the European Championship under (Roberto) Martinez, when he came on and immediately faced a suspension. He is a super talent, and actually indispensable for the Red Devils. But he is a bit of a high-risk player.”
Onana, Raes adds, must adapt his tough-tackling ways to life on the international stage, referees on the continent perhaps a little less willing to let things slide.
“He can get away with it in England,” Raes explains. “They are used to that playing style there.”
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That most needless of sending off should not distract from what was a hitherto excellent display from Everton’s towering number eight. With Axel Witsel past his peak and Youri Tielemans struggling at Aston Villa, Onana still feels very well placed to secure his place on Tedesco’s team sheet with the European Championships less than 12
“We got ourselves into trouble through Onana,” says Franky van der Elst, capped 86 times by Belgium between 1984 and 1998.
“Those fouls and yellow cards should be removed from his game. And he should actually take steps to address this quickly.”
