‘It’s great’: Lampard says Everton player is now getting fitter after asking to be subbed off at the weekend

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Everton manager Frank Lampard hailed the performance of summer signing Amadou Onana against Leeds last night.

Lampard saw his side battle to a 1-1 draw at Elland Road and told the club’s official website that the Belgian’s fitness is improving.

It was a first 90 minutes in the famous blue shirt for the new-boy on a night where the result could have gone either way.

Lampard said that Onana asked to be taken off in the weekend draw with Brentford because he was struggling fitness-wise, so the progress is welcome.

Lampard hails Everton man Onana

Lampard said of Onana: “He’s a young player. We worked really hard to get him here because he was a wanted boy. I know what he can do.

“I saw him before he came here and now since he’s been with us. He can do the deeper role and some of his attributes are great for it — defensively, his size, physicality.

“You need that sometimes in a game like today. He can also do the higher role and bring a lot of energy. For Amadou to come into this league as a young man and show what he’s shown in these past two Premier League games, it’s great.

“His energy was more [tonight]. He had to come off at Brentford, he asked to come off, because he was tiring and now there was another step tonight in him getting through 90 minutes. He’s a huge player for us and I already love working with him.”

Onana has shown he has the quality to compete and make Everton stronger in the engine room since coming in from Lille.

Lampard needed midfield improvements this summer and Onana and Alex Iwobi give him great technical quality as well as energy.

He will keep on improving from the looks of it, and perhaps there will be games where he gets a chance to show what he can do going forward, but last night a battling effort was largely needed to get a point.