Unai Emery looks set to add Everton midfielder Amadou Onana to his squad shortly as he prepares to take Aston Villa into the Champions League.
It has been an incredibly busy summer already at Aston Villa, with the initial panic regarding PSR followed by an influx of signings.
Tim Iroegbunam, Omari Kellyman and Douglas Luiz were all sold to raise funds prior to the 30th June PSR deadline.
Since then, it has been all about incomings, with the likes of Ian Maatsen, Ross Barkley, Enzo Barrenechea and Jaden Philogene all signing.
In total, Villa have made six senior signings already this summer, with Amadou Onana’s £50 million arrival set to be the seventh.
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Whilst depth and quality were certainly needed ahead of a Champions League campaign, the number of arrivals in the midfield positions could give Unai Emery a problem he has not previously encountered at Villa.
Unai Emery could struggle to keep all his Aston Villa midfielders happy next season
As pointed out by Dan Bardell, the Sky Sports presenter who hosts The 1874 Podcast, Onana’s imminent signing means that Villa now have incredible depth in the midfield.
Even with Luiz being sold to Juventus, Emery has a wealth of options in the central midfield positions.
Barkley, Barrenechea and Onana will join Boubacar Kamara, John McGinn, Youri Tielemans and Jacob Ramsey as players whose primary position is in the centre of midfield.
- READ MORE: Who is Enzo Barrenechea? The Juventus gem likened to Rodri now included in Douglas Luiz swap deal
Whilst Emery does often favour the use of a midfielder as a second striker, he could face problems trying to keep all of those players happy next season.
Realistically, at most, only three of those players will play at any one time.
Villa struggled with fatigue towards the end of last season so depth was needed, but Emery will now face a very different challenge in managing game time effectively to keep each of his midfielder’s satisfied with their level of involvement.
This will become even more problematic if Villa suffer an early exit in the Champions League with much less games to spread minutes across.
Emery may not have a first-choice Aston Villa midfield next season
It could be that Emery does not have an obvious first-choice midfield next season.
The good thing about Villa’s midfield options is they all have different attributes, meaning Emery can decide on which skillset is best for each opponent.
For example, Onana offers a real physical and aerial presence but against sides where more guile is required Emery could opt to play Barkley over the Belgian.
Before Kamara’s ACL injury in February, it would generally be the Frenchman alongside Luiz at the heart of the midfield with McGinn advanced.
Next season, it could become much more difficult to predict who will start any given game for Villa.
