(Reuters) – Everton have signed Belgian international midfielder Amadou Onana from French Ligue 1 side Lille on a five-year contract, the Premier League club said on Tuesday.
Everton did not provide details but British media reported that the 20-year-old, who has earned one cap for the national team, was valued at 30 million euros ($30.68 million).
“Everyone here showed they really wanted me and they have a plan for me, so I really appreciated the talks I had with the manager (Frank Lampard) and director of football (Kevin Thelwell),” Onana said in a statement.
“They told me how they wanted me to play and I enjoyed it. They both have a lot of ambition and that’s the type of guy I am so it matches.
“The manager was one of the big reasons. He played at the highest level, won many things and was a midfielder. It means a lot to have interest from him and he can teach me many things.
The midfielder came through the youth ranks of Anderlecht, RWS Bruxelles and Zulte Waregem before joining German outfits Hoffenheim and Hamburg.
He then switched to Lille last summer and played more than 40 games for them across all competitions.
Onana is Everton’s fifth signing of the transfer window following the arrivals of defenders James Tarkowski and Ruben Vinagre, forward Dwight McNeil and center back Conor Coady.
Everton began the new Premier League campaign with a 1-0 defeat by Chelsea and traveled to Aston Villa on Saturday.
($1 = 0.9779 euros)
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)
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