After Aston Villa were paired with an interest in Youri Tielemans earlier this week, competition for his signature is reportedly ramping up.
The 26-year-old is available on a free transfer this summer after Leicester City confirmed his release, and although he struggled this past season and was disappointing for the Foxes, there is no doubt over the quality that he possesses when in form and the contribution he’s capable of making.
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Tielemans scored four goals and provided two assists in 37 appearances last season, but he’ll no doubt be relishing a new chapter in his career now after Leicester’s relegation.
As per The Athletic earlier this week, Villa were said to have joined the race to sign Tielemans this summer, with Unai Emery reportedly keen to get a deal done quickly and so an approach was seemingly imminent.
However, according to Gianluca Di Marzio, Roma are now in ‘concrete contacts’ with the Tielemans camp, and so we’re likely to face stern competition for his signature in the coming weeks, albeit the report does add that the Belgian international is waiting to assess his options from Premier League clubs.
It remains to be seen how serious Villa’s interest is as if he is indeed a priority for Emery, then we’ll likely make a significant proposal to try and convince him about a move to Birmingham to play a key role in our push to be competitive across multiple fronts next season and beyond.
Conversely, it’s likely that Emery has various transfer targets in mind this summer to strengthen his squad, and so if our potential offer to Tielemans isn’t his favoured option, it’s vital we move quickly to identify and land an alternative target to continue to assemble a group that will help us achieve our objectives.
What is clear though is that Villa do need to add competition and depth in midfield, which will in turn continue to push the likes of Douglas Luiz and Boubacar Kamara, while also giving Emery options to be able to rotate and find different tactical solutions for what will hopefully be a very busy fixture schedule next season.
