Matt Maher: Amadou Onana increasingly looks a £50m player - Aston Villa need him more than ever
It was around 20 minutes after the final whistle at Newcastle that Amadou Onana was told he’d just delivered his best performance in a Villa shirt.
The compliment - or opinion - came from a reporter but Onana’s modest response, when asked if he agreed with it, said much about his season.
“I’m hearing that more and more,” he said. “That means I am getting better and better at my job.”
There could be few arguments there. Even if you did not agree with the view Sunday’s performance was the Belgium international’s best to date, at the very least it could be added to a growing catalogue of impressive displays during the campaign.
Even some of the bare statistics - 90 per cent pass completion, three tackles and four duels won, four recoveries - don't tell the full story of an afternoon when Onana played the role of policeman at St James’s Park.
Former Villa striker Stan Collymore, who watched the match from the away end, later likened the 24-year-old’s use of his imposing six foot, five inch frame to the cartoon character Inspector Gadget.
It was partly intended as a joke but as comparisons go, it wasn't the worst one, such is the regularity with which Onana sticks out a long leg to steal possession from an unsuspecting opponent.
