Everton star Idrissa Gueye has now revealed what he told Amadou Onana after the Toffees beat Arsenal. The midfielder was a target of the Gunners over the January transfer window.
The Goodison Park outfit edged the Emirates Stadium club 1-0 in Sean Dyche’s first fixture in charge on February 4. James Tarkowski headed in the only goal of the match on the hour mark. The defender controlled Martin Odegaard to meet Dwight McNeil’s back-post corner.
Dyche started Gueye and Onana in his debut Everton midfield with Abdoulaye Doucoure at home to Arsenal. The Premier League affair marked the pair’s 17th and 20th appearances of the season. Both secured transfers to the Merseyside outfit under Frank Lampard last year.
Arsenal targeted Amadou Onana’s transfer just six months after he joined Everton
Lampard paid Paris Saint-Germain £2m to coax Gueye back to Goodison three years after he moved to France for £30m. While Everton paid LOSC Lille £33m to pip West Ham United to a deal for Onana. Yet his efforts in the Toffees’ troubled term merited interest in January.
The Daily Mail reported that Mikel Arteta wanted Arsenal to target a transfer from Everton for Onana. He saw the 21-year-old as an alternative to Moises Caicedo of Brighton & Hove Albion. But Ben Jacobs claimed the four-cap Belgian had no interest in leaving the Toffees.
Onana also rejected a move to Chelsea in January, per Foot Mercato. The Stamford Bridge outfit held talks with the midfielder’s agent over a move to west London as they viewed him as a priority target. While 90min reported Goodison chiefs slapped a £50m price tag on him.
Idrissa Gueye now reveals his Goodison Park message to Amadou Onana
Dyche will hope Onana now helps Everton avoid relegation from the Premier League after rejecting a transfer to Arsenal. The Merseyside outfit rank 18th in the table and in the drop zone by one point after 22 matches. They face the Gunners again on Wednesday, March 1.
Gueye has also now revealed what he told Onana after Everton beat Arsenal. He spoke with his engine room partner straight after the game while they took in, what the Senegal anchor felt, was the best atmosphere that the Goodison Park faithful has produced so far this term.
“Definitely,” Gueye told EvertonFC.com. “I said this to Amadou after the game: ‘Did you see this atmosphere? Everton look like that normally every time we win the game’. It was just for him to know that is how Everton can be and how the fans can be very, very good with us.”
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