Why Chelsea should make a move for Ajax’s Andre Onana in the summer
According to Daily Mail, Chelsea are frontrunners to sign Ajax goalkeeper Andre Onana in the summer.
Andre Onana, 23, left Barcelona to join Ajax’s youth ranks in 2016. He was eventually promoted to Ajax’s first team and has made almost 200 appearances for the Dutch side, establishing himself as one of the top young goalkeepers across Europe.
Daily Mail claims that the Cameroonian, who would likely cost between £40-50million, is ready to leave Ajax at the end of the season and his preferred destination is Chelsea. Tottenham are also linked with Onana, while Barcelona have held talks with the goalkeeper over a possible return to Spain, the report adds.
Chelsea’s number one goalkeeper, Kepa Arrizabalaga has disappointed this season. After a decent debut season at Stamford Bridge under former manager Maurizio Sarri, the Spaniard’s form has been so bad that Frank Lampard decided to drop him for the Blues’ recent game against Leicester City last weekend. Willy Caballero, 38, started in his place as Chelsea drew 2-2 at the King Power Stadium.
Truly, Kepa has failed to live up to his £72million price-tag which Chelsea paid Athletic Bilbao in the summer of 2018. And as per Spanish outlet the Cope (h/t The Metro), Lampard has told the club’s hierarchy that he wants to offload Kepa and bring in a new goalkeeper for next season. Having said that, should Chelsea sign Andre Onana?
Onana is a highly-rated goalkeeper who helped Ajax reach the Champions League semi-finals last year and was nominated for best goalkeeper of 2019 at this year’s Ballon d’Or. The 23-year-old has a brilliant record of 72 clean sheets in 171 first-team appearances for Ajax.
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As per WhoScored, Onana has averaged 26.3 passes, 4.7 long balls and a 78.7% pass accuracy, whilst conceding 17 goals and keeping seven clean sheets in just 20 league games. Kepa, on the other hand, has averaged 28.3 passes, 3.8 long balls and 78.4% pass accuracy, whilst conceding 32 goals and keeping five clean sheets in 24 league games. [Courtesy: WhoScored]
Verdict
Upon comparing their stats, Onana has better numbers almost in every area than Kepa. Going purely by numbers, Chelsea should certainly look at bringing the Cameroon international to the club in the summer if Lampard wants to sign a new goalkeeper.
