What Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans has said after Belgium injury blow vs Spain

Aston Villa star Youri Tielemans may just have added to Unai Emery's midfield injury headache.

Boubacar Kamara hasn't been seen since early January after suffering a PCL tear in his left knee.

Meanwhile, Amadou Onana is now set for a lengthy period on the sidelines after rupturing his ACL in Belgium's World Cup Round-of-16 tie with the USA on 7 July.

So, with the first of Aston Villa's pre-season friendlies not even under way yet, Emery is already dealing with a host of injuries in his engine room, and now there is concern over Tielemans too.

The 29-year-old was one of Villa's best players last season, scoring twice and providing seven assists from 35 total appearances.

However, after being down to make his sixth appearance at this summer's World Cup, the Belgian never made it onto the pitch against Spain.

Youri Tielemans to reassure Aston Villa with injury update

After being named in Belgium's starting line-up to play Spain in the quarter-finals of the World Cup on Friday, Rudi Garcia was forced into a late change.

Tielemans suffered an injury in the warm-up, with the type of issue not being confirmed at this stage.

Club Brugge's Hans Vanaken came in to replace the Aston Villa star, and despite giving the European champions a real good run for their money, it was Luis de la Fuente's side who emerged victorious in a 2-1 win.

As quoted by Birmingham Live reporter John Townley after the game, Tielemans said of his injury: "Unfortunately, when the body says stop, you can't force anything.

"We are professional athletes and we try to give everything, but we saw today many players who were tired and burned."

That will no doubt put many Villa minds at ease, as Tielemans appears to confirm that his withdrawal from the starting lineup as being a mere precaution rather than him having suffered a significant problem.

Taking to his Instagram account after the full-time whistle, he also shared a short message summing up his emotions as Belgium's World Cup campaign comes to an end

"This World Cup journey ends for us unfortunately. So proud of this team. Thank you," he wrote.

His tournament may be over, but Tielemans can leave North America with his head very much held high after putting up some impressive numbers and individual performances.

Tielemans among World Cup's best in key categories

Tournament football is all about grasping opportunity and taking your chance when it comes, and Tielemans certainly did that for Belgium this summer.

His 89th-minute equaliser took Belgium's Round-of-32 tie against Senegal to extra-time, before he stepped up in the 125th minute to send his side through from the penalty spot.

As per FotMob, Tielemans ranked in the top 8.9 per cent of players in his position at the tournament for chances created per 90 minutes (2.04).

In addition to that, he also ranked in the leading 5.8 percentile for his 2.38 fouls won per game, whilst he also won 59.1 per cent of his duels and enjoyed a long ball accuracy of 66.7 per cent.

Tielemans didn't pick up a single caution during the tournament either, as he took 196 touches, completed 89.4 per cent of his pass attempts and delivered two successful crosses to boot.

So, with Aston Villa heading to Walsall for their first pre-season friendly on 21 July, Emery may well look to avoid giving Tielemans any minutes in that one to safeguard against any further injury.

Either way, he can hold his head high and hopefully look forward to the Premier League and UEFA Super Cup next.