It’s fair to say that Youri Tielemans has struggled since joining Aston Villa on a free transfer at the end of last season. There is even conjecture that the Premier League team will try to offload him as soon as possible, however such reports should be treated with a grain of salt.
So far, Tielemans has struggled to find consistent playing time under Unai Emery. He’s even spoken with the management about it. However, Tielemans’ Villa career is still in its early stages, and he has demonstrated the ability to succeed there on multiple occasions during his time with Leicester City. But the 26-year-old has had a difficult start to his career.
Nonetheless, there are signs that the Belgian is starting to settle, and indeed there have been some stats graphics doing the social media rounds that have shown just how much effort he is putting into to making his switch to Villa Park a success.
A recent interview on the Villa podcast Claret & Blue provided an honest assessment of how the former City player is doing. Mat Kendrick, one of the hosts, provided his opinion as Villa earned their first Europa Conference League points with a last-minute winner over Zrinjski Mostar, putting all four sides on three points in Group E.
“He just seems a little careless at times,” he admits. He threw the ball away cheaply, and when the ball was passed back into him on the right side of the penalty area, his delivery was weak.
“It’s early days and it’s hard for him to be up to speed when he’s not playing regularly in the Premier League. I don’t want to write him off because he comes with good pedigree, and it was interesting seeing Tielemans and (Leander) Dendoncker… part of Belgium’s golden generation as was. Three years ago both of those would have been playing regularly in two good Premier League teams in Leicester and Wolves.
“But when you see them in the team rather than (Douglas) Luiz, rather than (Boubacar) Kamara, rather than Jacob Ramsey, it becomes a little bit static and one-paced rather than the high energy tempo that we like to see Villa play with. Tielemans is a far better player than what we have seen so far, but he frustrated me tonight I must admit.”
