In a season full of positives thus far, Aston Villa midfielder Youri Tielemans has emerged as one of the most prominent with his form to start the campaign.
The 27-year-old has been an almost ever-present for Unai Emery, as aside from sitting out our win over Wycombe in the Carabao Cup, he’s completed 90 minutes in almost every game across the Premier League and Champions League.
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That underlines his importance to the Villa boss in the structure and system that he is implementing so far this season, as he continues to impress in our deeper midfield pivot where he can control, dictate and pull the strings as our orchestrator in chief to set the tempo and rhythm of our play.
In 12 appearances, Tielemans has also contributed one goal and four assists to make a decisive impact in the final third, while he boasts an 86 percent pass completion rate having completed 613 of 712 passes, while he’s won 68 of 123 tackles to show a tenacious side to his game as well that allows him to make an important contribution out of possession. The next Villa midfielder on the list of completed passes is Amadou Onana, with 345.
Albeit the game ended in disappointment after we conceded a late equaliser, Tielemans continued his influential streak against Bournemouth this weekend.
The Belgian international had 91 touches, 79 percent passing completion, two key passes, three of five ground duels won along with a string of defensive interventions.
He’s been a fundamental presence in this Villa side, and for all the talk of missing Douglas Luiz after his summer departure, he’s made it so much easier for Emery to deal with that loss by stepping into the void and flourishing.
It goes well beyond the numbers too. Tielemans operates at an elite level when it comes to technical ability, composure, vision, tactical and positional awareness and intelligence, as to play the role he does and under the pressure that’s applied to him by the opposition, is arguably the toughest job on the pitch, when everyone expects him to do so too.
And yet he makes it look effortless in his own classy way, and it’s been a joy to watch him so far this season as he continues to make us tick and add a methodical rhythm to our play by breaking the lines and setting us off on attack with the likes of Morgan Rogers and Jacob Ramsey directly benefitting from that influence in deeper areas.
Crucially, we have the depth and competition this year to protect Tielemans and avoid burning him out, but it’s just hoped that he can steer clear of injuries and feature as often as possible, as not only is it a great watch seeing him run the show in the Villa midfield, but it will be a fundamental factor in how successful we can be this season.