Fabrizio Romano says Arsenal have made 'contact' with Everton over £50m-rated star

Arsenal have reportedly made contact with Everton over a potential move for Amadou Onana.

This summer could see Everton part ways with Onana as the club may be forced to raise funds due to their financial issues. He is one of their highest value assets at the club and is currently being courted by multiple top clubs in England and Europe - including Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

With Thomas Partey set to depart and Jorginho in his early-30’s, Onana is an age-appropriate signing to help sure up their midfield and allow Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard to play ahead of him. Defensively, he has proven to be a force for Everton in the deep-lying role under Sean Dyche and he could yet improve further surrounded by better players.

In fact, that’s what he does at international for Belgium. He started in their most recent international and is odds-on to be a key figure in midfield at the upcoming European Championships in Germany. It should see him placed in the shop window and some strong performances could spark a bidding war.

As it stands, transfer expert Fabrizio Romano claims: "They (Arsenal) had some contact, yes, in terms of being informed on the players' situation, but it's not the proper negotiation to the club yet. I think Arsenal has several names in that list for the midfield."

He played 37 times last season, netting three goals and it is clear he improved greatly on his debut season in England after moving from Lille. His defensive positioning and overall impact in that position has greatly improved and it was key to helping Everton be structurally sound and concede the fourth-least goals in the league. Plus, he recorded a top-speed of 36.65km/h which was the seventh-fastest in the league during the season.

Ranking in the elite brackets for tackles and aerial duels won as well, he’s proven he can be a top midfielder and has the room to keep growing and develop. However, while a loss would be a huge blow for Everton, it is more likely they could find another midfield replacement closer to him than they would if they had to sacrifice Jarrad Branthwaite this summer, for example.