Youri Tielemans stinks yet again for Belgium, Aston Villa January exit could be sanctioned by NSWE
Youri Tielemans played 45 minutes for Belgium against Sweden in the Euro 2024 qualifier in a performance which raised more critical questions over his immediate future at Aston Villa.
The Belgian international joined on a free transfer on 1 July after his contract at Leicester City expired, signing on a four-year deal which was said to be an expensive pay package.
The midfielder had been highly sought after for a number of years by several big clubs, but Emery persuaded him to make the move to the Villans after qualifying for the Europa Conference League last season.
However, the midfielder has fallen out of favour under Unai Emery despite only arriving in the summer transfer window and made his feelings known about how he is being used by Unai Emery since his arrival from Leicester City in the summer when speaking to the media on international duty [DH les Sports, 8 September].
Former Eurosport journalist Dean Jones recently told GIVEMESPORT that Tielemans may not be on Villa’s books for much longer as his selfish attitude does not match the atmosphere Emery is attempting to create behind the scenes.
However, his recent international displays have only further compounded his struggles at Villa Park and the reasons why he doesn’t usurp the likes of Douglas Luiz, Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn in the Aston Villa midfield.
He came off the bench in the 64th minute for Belgium in their 3-2 victory against Austria and saw his opponents score two goals to get back in the game, having been 3-0 down when he came on.
While the display was not entirely his fault, as Belgium went down to ten men, he touched the ball just 18 times in his 26 minutes of play, completed just seven passes and lost possession three times as he struggled to help his side keep the ball. [Sofascore]
Against Sweden on Monday evening (16 October), Tielemans was handed a start for his country only because of Amadou Onana’s red card against Austria.
The fact that he’s no longer a starter for his country again highlights how much Tielemans’ stock has fallen this year.
However, Belgium’s second qualifier of the international period was abandoned at half-time after the players took the decision not to return for the second half after learning of two deaths amongst the Swedish fans by a gunman with Belgium placed on the highest terrorism alert.
Despite all that, it was a first-half to forget again for the Villa man as he was nowhere to be seen in a lacklustre display, failing to register any key passes, and losing possession of the ball seven times.
Tielemans did win 100% of his aerial duels however and two ground duels [SofaScore] but it was certainly a performance which failed to convince Emery or Domenico Tedesco in the Belgium hotseat that he deserves to regain his place in the team from the off.
It remains to be seen whether bridges can be mended again between Tielemans and Emery and his recent performances suggest he may have bitten off more than he can chew when he made the move over the summer.
These next couple of months could yet be the most critical of his career so far and if the former Leicester City man doesn’t exert the required mettle and mentality to push himself into Emery’s thinking again, it won’t be a surprise to see Villa Park owners NSWE sanction a surprise exit in January.
In other Aston Villa news, a broadcaster was stunned at a recent Villa development.