Don’t be too upset because you are wrong when you say he can play in a single pivot. I don’t believe he can effectively. He’s a good player in the right circumstances, and as part of a double pivot he is quite effective, but a single pivot requires a highly press resistant player who has an excellent first touch that creates space and allows him to turn and move the ball forward, Onana doesn’t have that from what I have seen. When he receives the ball in deep areas, facing his own goal, if there is any semblance of pressure he just plays it back, or at best sideways. But usually back.
In a single pivot system the DM bears a lot of weight in the build up phase, and you need someone that can receive the ball deep and play incisive passes through the lines. Onana isn’t that player. He has great athleticism, covers the ground well, carries the ball fairly well, and is a tidy passer, but he isn’t a single pivot. If he was our sole DM, we wouldn’t be able to build out from the back effectively at all. He needs someone alongside him as a double pivot, or to play slightly further forward himself as an 8.
In terms of what he offers, I think he has a fairly similar profile to Ugarte, just in a different package. I don’t think either are suited to being single pivots. Both are more suited to being ball winning, and ball carrying players in a double pivot system. Similar to Kante. I just think Ugarte is all around a higher quality player with a higher ceiling. But the difference isn’t huge. Both would require being deployed as a double pivot alongside Mainoo, with Mainoo being the one responsible for dropping deepest to receive the ball.
People see a tall, athletic midfielder, who is decent technically, and highly proficient at ball winning, and they think they are suited to being a one man defensive midfield machine. But it’s only half the equation. What you really want from a sole DM is someone who is at the right place at the right time, who plays with their head more than their body. Someone who cuts out passes and blocks passing lanes, more than they actually engage in 1v1 duels. And most importantly, a player adept at receiving the ball and dictating play through the lines.
Onana isn’t any of those things. He’s much better with the play in front of him and moving forwards to chase it down. Ugarte is actually very good at taking up the right positions and blocking passing lanes, often by stepping up and making aggressive interceptions, but he is far from elite in receiving it deep, facing his own goal, and turning to play it forward. But while he is far from elite in that area, Onana is light years from it.
He’s a good signing for Villa and will suit them as a double pivot alongside Tielemans. He could have been a good player for us too, I am sure. But not in the way you perhaps imagine.
