ASTON VILLA’S AMADOU ONANA SUFFERS ANTERIOR CRUCIATE LIGAMENT INJURY
Amadou Onana is expected to be ruled out for the rest of 2026 after he ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in Belgium’s 4-1 drubbing of the United States.
The Aston Villa midfielder was substituted in the 21st minute of the last-16 tie in Seattle, having crumpled to the floor as he stretched to dispossess Christian Pulisic. He initially tried to continue, but it was evident the incident was serious.
Onana was assessed in the stadium by Belgium’s medical staff and he returned later for the conclusion of the game on crutches with his right knee in a brace.
This is a huge blow for Onana, who will not only miss the conclusion to the World Cup – Belgium, who were on the brink of elimination in the last 32 when they played Senegal, now face Spain in the quarter-finals – but he is almost certain to miss the first half of the new Premier League season.
Villa remain in contact with Belgium’s medical team. They do not have any plans to send any of their staff to assess Onana in person just yet, as they are waiting for the swelling around the damaged area to subside. Only when that happens will the 24-year-old be able to have surgery.
Onana, whom Villa signed from Everton in July 2024 for £50m, had a spell out of Villa’s team in the spring with injury, but he returned to play the last 24 minutes of the Europa League final against Freiburg and then featured in a 2-1 win at Manchester City that secured fourth place.
He is a popular character, one to whom manager Unai Emery gives responsibility, and his prolonged absence will be keenly felt, with Villa looking to build on their success and establish themselves in the Champions League once again.
Rudi Garcia, the Belgium head coach, said: “It was the one dark cloud over the night for us, what happened to Onana. It’s not good news for him as an individual or for us as a team. I do have the feeling that he is out [for a long time].”
Wrecking-ball Onana leaves huge void
Praise from Unai Emery is always hard earned and, even when it comes, a caveat is usually attached.
Every day working under Emery, according to Aston Villa captain John McGinn, is a school day – an opportunity to learn, to understand football’s minutiae – and if you are prepared to jump on board, the ride will bear fruit. Onana would know this better than most.
“I’ve had many managers before,” Onana told si.com earlier this year. “But Unai Emery is the best I’ve ever had. I could feel in the conversations we had that this guy could take me to the next level. I knew what he was expecting of me and what he could bring to my game.
“I’ve never seen anyone as obsessed with football as he is. I think his entire life is just about football. Sometimes we’ll fly back from European games, when it’s probably 2am, and he’ll be in his office trying to rewatch the game. I find that fascinating, but I think that makes him the manager he is.
“He’s made me uncomfortable. That’s how you grow faster as a football player, but also as a man.”
Onana has given everything to Emery over the past two years, since he moved to the West Midlands from Everton, and that is why he will be devastated about the news that landed following Belgium’s skewering of the United States in Seattle.
A ruptured cruciate ligament ended Onana’s World Cup and meant that Emery will have to prepare for the first half of the Premier League season without one of his most influential figures.
Depending on when Onana undergoes surgery to repair the damage in his right knee, he is looking at a rehabilitation period of, in the best case, six months or, most likely, nine months. Such bulletins are an occupational hazard for a manager, but it does not make them any easier to digest.
The 24-year-old is not a prolific scorer nor is he a midfielder who relies on subtlety and elegance, but his effectiveness, power and athleticism mean he performs a crucial role in helping Villa deliver the relentless energy that Emery demands.
His worth in last season’s historic campaign, which ended in a blaze of ticker-tape on the banks of the Bosphorus, could be defined by metrics such as most aerial duels won and most interceptions made. If dirty work needed doing, Onana would put his hand up and do it.
“The challenge we have – and the challenge he has – is to be consistent,” Emery said in February. “He is very important. His potential is still there, and when he is playing, being ready and 100 per cent, his performances are fantastic. He has progressed a lot since being here for a year and a half.”
Taking that influence out of the team until early 2027 is not easily fixed. Emery, having taken Aston Villa back into the Champions League, is determined to build on their success and provide more depth to a squad that has big ambitions.
Suddenly, he has a hole to fill. There is not a like-for-like figure in Villa’s squad and Emery will have some serious thinking to do ahead of the new campaign, which begins with a showdown against his old employers Paris St-Germain in the European Super Cup final.
That presents another opportunity for success – PSG are always vulnerable early in a season – and there is little doubt Onana would have featured prominently in Emery’s thinking for the game in Salzburg on August 12, and in the weeks that follow.
Much to Emery and Onana’s dismay, however, Villa’s wrecking ball is out of service. The hole Onana relished opening in opposition attacks is now, with bitter irony, in his own squad and this will be an enormous concern for all.
Villa have been incensed about the constraints put on them in recent years with regard to spending and it cannot be right that a club with ambition must offload to balance the books. What a calamity it would be, as some clubs circle Morgan Rogers.
All managers anticipate that a World Cup will have a knock-on effect on a new season. Emery would not have foreseen this one being so big.
2026-07-07T12:10:55Z
