Youri Tielemans finally lives up to Aston Villa hype after 'huge' signing from Leicester City

We’re delighted to welcome former Aston Villa full-back Alan Hutton as our exclusive columnist. Each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at Villa Park…

Alan Hutton is thrilled to see Youri Tielemans finally finding his stride at Aston Villa after a rough start to life in the West Midlands.

Tielemans, 26, arrived at Villa Park on a free transfer in the summer but Unai Emery has failed to start the Belgium international in most matches.

The midfielder has started just once in the Premier League but he came off the bench at half-time to great effect last weekend as he grabbed an assist for Ollie Watkins' winner away at Tottenham.

Hutton is a massive fan of the midfield playmaker and he believes that he's finally found his confidence, which has unlocked his abilities at Villa.

"When you see some of his passes, he always wants to go forward and he sees runs," Hutton told Villa News.

"That's what he was brought to the club to do.

"Tielemans was a huge signing for them but it's taken him a bit of time to bed in and to probably get used to how the manager was playing.

"When he's confident, you see what he's capable of. He sees passes that other midfielders don't so I think he can be very happy [with his performance against Spurs].

"He needs to keep raising that bar because there's a lot of competition in the Villa midfield."

In other Aston Villa news, it is “done” for this central midfielder to quit Villa Park with a permanent transfer deal already agreed.