Manchester United legend Rio Ferdinand has compared Everton’s Amadou Onana to his Belgian compatriot Marouane Fellaini.

The Red Devils are believed to be interested in signing the 21-year-old from the Toffees, but Ferdinand claims they would be repeating the same mistake they made with Fellaini, who doesn’t perform one specific function in midfield:

“Onana is not a holder, he’s not a destroyer. Every single attribute listed, that’s not Ten Hag to me. Ten Hag’s about playing through the lines, playing off angles. I think he has really good attributes but I don’t think for Man United.”

“It’s like Fellaini, it’s like buying Fellaini again for Manchester United. He had unbelievable attributes but not for Man United. Is he more effective than Fellaini, no he’s not!”

Ferdinand is backing a move for another midfielder

While the former United captain is not keen on recruiting Onana, he would favour going after someone like Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat who he would take over the Belgian “all day”.

The main reason for that is the Moroccan is a holding midfielder and would do the job in terms of protecting the back four alongside Casemiro.

Onana would cost United a lot more than Amrabat

In addition to the two midfielders being very different in terms of their style of play, Onana’s valuation is likely to be £20m to £25m higher.

Back in June, when the Belgian was linked with both Chelsea and Arsenal, it was reported that Everton were demanding around £55m for the player. In contrast, Fiorentina would be happy to sell Amrabat for only £30m to £35m.

Following the departure of Fred, you would think that United will go into the market again, in order to find a replacement for the Brazilian before the transfer window closes, so we shall see who they choose to pursue.