As Premier League football pauses for the autumn internationals, let’s take a look at Aston Villa’s summer arrivals and how they’ve contributed to the club’s fifth-placed standing after game week eight, starting with Youri Tielemans.
In this mini-series we’ll take a deep-dive into each of the signings performances, and how they’ve settled into life at Villa Park.
Joining me to review Youri Tieleman’s start is our Retro Villa feature writer Ivan McDouall.
YOURI TIELEMANS
Youri Tielemans was Aston Villa’s first acquisition of the summer, with the club acting quickly to secure his services after his contract with relegated Leicester City expired.
With Aston Villa striving to develop and evolve its squad to be competitive in all competitions, bringing in the 26-year-old on a free transfer added substantial depth to a midfield that already includes Club Captain John McGinn, Douglas Luiz, and Boubacar Kamara.
But it’s been a turbulent start to life at Villa Park.
Villa fans, including myself, were eagerly anticipating a re-energised Youri Tielemans, who’s enthusiasm and energy drained as Leicester City untidily slipped through the Premier League trapdoor.
Tielemans (who has yet to start a Premier League game) is finding the adjustment to “breaking into” an established team rather than being the first name on the sheet difficult to negotiate.
Minutes have been accumulated in both domestic and European cup competitions (257 in total) while also appearing from the bench in all of Villa’s eight Premier League games (those appearances totalling 150 minutes, which is 20.8% of season to date).
Part of the issue with his unsettled start is the underperforming “cup-sides”, which have understandably been heavily packed with players looking to build confidence, form, and consistency. Tielemans has been at the heart of this.
He’s so far failed to make an impact on the teams performance, nor has he individually stood out.
A lack of physical presence, which was whispered behind the excitement of bringing in the 50+-capped Belgium international, is starting to visually become apparent. His mobility and athleticism around the pitch in the double pivot have been slack, which is worrying. But his support network in these games has also found the stuttering of appearances physically difficult.
In Europe, against Zrinjski Mostar, he was much more comfortable and reassured playing alongside Douglas Luiz in the second half, a very noticeable difference. And, it’s clear he has elite attributes with the possession of the football: an eye for a pass. He just needs to find his rhythm with a run of games, which is difficult to do when you have the established well-oiled pivot machine in Luiz and Kamara!
The pivot, at this moment in time, is the only position I can see that would suit Youri’s game long-term. Receiving the ball in a slightly deeper area of the pitch and dictating from there – which he has the ability to do. But, that would also rely on a physical presence alongside him for protection, as well as his own athleticism being in top shape.
It’s still very early days, and Unai Emery and his team will construct a platform to extract Youri’s talents; it will involve patience, especially with the Premier League game time. But, with International and Europa Conference League games coming thick and fast, the opportunity is there for Tielemans to find his rhythm and assert that onto breaking into the Premier League starting eleven.
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Ivan, your thoughts on Tielemans:
“On a sunny evening against Lazio at Walsall, Villa fans thought all their Christmases had come at once. A midfielder with over 50 international caps had been signed on a free transfer to supplement an already vibrant midfield. That night at the Bescot, Youri Tielemans was outstanding and controlled the game; probing and adventurous, he was absolutely the conductor. Savvy business. One pre-season swallow certainly doesn’t make a summer, and equally, 13 games doesn’t make a season, but it’s fair to say Tielemans hasn’t lived up to that initial promise”.
“It’s fair to say he has been involved in all the competitions Villa have had—a mix of starts and substitutes—but has never really made an impact in those games. There’s no doubting his ability, and he echoes Emi Buendia in being the type of player willing to try things – that thread through the ball – but when those things don’t come off, it can be frustrating. Unfortunately for the experienced Belgian, they just haven’t come off”.
“I have a sense that he will grow in importance as the season ebbs and flows. A first goal would help, and as the games come thick and fast, his involvement will solidify. To be fair to him, when he has started, he’s needed to slot into an unfamiliar line-up; compare that with the consistency of Luiz or Kamara next to them or around them”.
One caveat: “I am always reminded of an article I read when he signed about the fact that he was young, which was possibly misleading. He has played a huge number of games in his career, and that has taken its toll. It will be interesting to see how the Tielemans take develop”.
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