Which Championship Club Should Josh Onomah Join This Summer?
Tottenham Hotspur are looking to offer young midfielder Josh Onomah to Swansea City on loan in order to secure the services of highly rated centre-back Alfie Mawson.
In this case though, the club could be unwittingly selling Onomah as he looks to be in need of a loan move at a slightly lower level before breaking into the Premier League. The midfielder has made 13 appearances for Tottenham in the top division over a two-year period and is clearly not ready for the step up.
This year’s Championship, having initially looked weak after swapping Newcastle and Brighton for Sunderland and Hull in particular, is hotting up now, becoming a tougher one to win, given the signings made by the likes of Derby, Wolves and Middlesbrough.
With this in mind, Onomah would not be going to some second-rate league if he were to join a Championship side and would be capable of playing for one of the promotion chasers, something which would give him valuable experience of attempting to win things.
Aston Villa are among the favourites to go up and for my money are desperately in need of a younger midfielder to help drive their promotion push. Boro have made some great signings too and would surely be open to the England under-21 international’s arrival.
The one I’d suggest though is Gary Rowett’s Derby County. There perhaps wasn’t enough dynamism in the midfield before or after Steve McClaren’s exit as manager, leading to little support for the striker(s).
Onomah could change all that and may just be the final piece of the puzzle when it comes to the Rams looking like genuine title contenders. Their defence has improved markedly by the signings of Andre Wisdom and Curtis Davies, and more solidity has been added to the middle of the park by the re-signing of Tom Huddlestone.
A new striker is badly needed, but whoever that may be, they will get little tangible success if the midfield behind them is no good. Onomah taking part in a successful Championship season at this stage could be the best thing for his career.
Compare this with Premier League football at Swansea, where, should the likes of Mawson or Sigurdsson leave, he could be involved in a relegation scrap and that is never good for the confidence of a young footballer. Onomah to Derby sounds like a fair loan deal to me.