Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans is striving to build on his impressive season last year and is ready for the challenges ahead.
The 28-year-old was a fundamental figure for us last season as he made 53 appearances across all competitions, contributing five goals and 10 assists in those outings.
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His influence and importance went well beyond those numbers though, as his tenacity, technical quality, leadership and experience all made him an immovable figure in Unai Emery’s preferred Villa XI, as he was consistently brilliant week in and week out to help drive our push for success.
Ultimately, we fell short of achieving our objectives last year, and although Tielemans is pleased with his improvement and impact over the previous campaign, he is fully focused on building on that and ensuring that we achieve our goals as a collective in the upcoming season.
“I was very consistent in most of the games,” Tielemans told BirminghamLive. “I actually felt stronger and stronger as the season went on. I am very happy with last season, but now I want to build on that, stay consistent and help the team to hopefully achieve our targets.
“I know I have a lot of experience, I started very young and I have travelled in two different countries now. For me, it is a natural process. I know I’m one of the most experienced players now, but I just try to enjoy my football and show on the pitch how it needs to be and how it works – hopefully the rest follows.
“As an individual I just want to stay consistent and play as well as possible and stay healthy. Then, on the other side, with the team, we just really want to push on and try to get that Champions League spot which we just missed out on last year.
“We know every season gets more difficult so we just have to take it from the game. Prepare well now and then in the first game go full on and we will see where we go.”
The Belgian international’s form was deservedly recognised with a double at our End of Season Awards last year as he scooped both the Supporters’ Player of the Season and Players’ Player of the Season awards, as his durability, reliability and quality all stood out in midfield as the heartbeat and orchestrator of the team given his ability to set and control tempo as well as dictate possession and show exceptional work ethic off the ball from a defensive perspective.
Particularly alongside Boubacar Kamara, but with Amadou Onana and Ross Barkley offering competition and depth too, the Villa pair will hope to be increasingly influential in games moving forward, but as demonstrated in his comments above, it’s not just on the pitch where Tielemans leads, but his professionalism and class off it also should set the example for the rest of the squad to follow as we look to kick on in the new campaign.
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