It’s been a slow start for Youri Tielemans at Aston Villa since his summer arrival, but having expressed an element of frustration over his limited role thus far, did he really say much wrong?
The 26-year-old has featured in every game so far this season, but he’s totalled 206 minutes of football having only started once, with the rest of his appearances coming as a second-half substitute.
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Naturally, given a player of his quality, the Belgian international will want to be more heavily involved, and he has expressed that sentiment while on international duty this week, as per the quotes below from a press conference.
“I may not start at Aston Villa, but I have participated in every training session so far and played in every match,” Tielemans told Nieuwsblad. “I have spoken to the manager of Aston Villa about the fact that I am not playing. He now chooses other players but it is up to me to do my best. He said there would still be opportunities to play. That explanation doesn’t help me much, but I hope I can show myself a little more in the coming weeks.”
Firstly, Tielemans ultimately has to earn it. He would have known upon joining Villa that he would have to displace either Douglas Luiz or Boubacar Kamara in the heart of our midfield for a regular spot, and that is not going to be an easy task.
That midfield pairing has been a major strength of ours dating back to last season under Unai Emery, and so it was never going to be simple to just break into the Villa XI.
Nevertheless, there are key points he makes in his comments, namely that he is focused on doing his best to get more opportunities and hopes to display his quality on the pitch in the coming weeks.
With those in mind, is there really an issue here? Some will, and have, interpreted it as problematic on social media, that he has already raised discontent and concern over his role in the squad, and perhaps that is a fair assessment.
However, his quotes strike me as a player who is eager to show his worth and impress. While it’s bit premature given we’re only six games into the campaign and we have a hectic upcoming schedule which will give him more minutes, it’s arguably a good thing to have players not content with a limited role and pushing for more.
The true test will be if he earns it, both in training and in games when involved. Emery will make the best decision for the team, and so Tielemans will have to be deserving of the role he desires, just like every other player in the squad.
Villa need ambitious players within the group not only pushing themselves to be more prominently involved, but to keep pushing those above them in the pecking order to earn their stay in the line-up.
We arguably have the perfect situation in central midfield now, but time will tell if Tielemans gets his wish and this becomes a minor matter that disappears as quickly as it came about, or if it develops into a headache moving forward in terms of the Belgian midfielder looking elsewhere to get what he’s after.
Either way, his comments at this stage aren’t really a cause for concern even though some might spin it that way, and we’ll undoubtedly need him in the fortnight that follows the international break, with five games coming in the space of 14 days as we compete on multiple fronts.