Youri Tielemans, an Aston Villa midfielder, was shown a lot of appreciation by journalist John Townley for his performance against Fulham on Saturday.
Youri Tielemans’ time at Aston Villa hasn’t always been simple.
The Belgium international had a sluggish start to life in claret and blue after joining Unai Emery’s project in the summer as a free agent after his Leicester City contract expired.
Although it took the 26-year-old some time to gain the manager’s confidence and be included in the starting lineup, Tielemans’ circumstances finally appear to be coming together.
The FA Cup winner proved just how deadly he can be in Emery’s system against Fulham on Saturday, earning him a ton of accolades.
John Townley’s remarks regarding Youri Tielemans following Fulham’s victory Journalist John Townley complimented Tielemans on his recent performance, crediting his improvement to his fit in the manager’s more advanced role.
Townley stated, “In an interview with Claret & Blue podcast:
“Tielemans will almost always create an opportunity or find space to make something happen during a game.”
“He is key at the moment to how Villa are playing, he plays in that kind of half space behind Watkins which Bailey or Buendia would be playing in that role, with Watkins almost as a second striker.”
“I think that suits him because he can link up with the midfield then and make that devastating impact where it matters, which for the second goal he picked out that half space then a through ball to Watkins, whereas that wouldn’t have happened if he was on the left.”
Tielemans secured an assist for what turned out to be Watkins’ winner for Villa, repaying the manager for seeing the potential in playing him in the ‘false nine’ style role.
Youri Tielemans is finally finding his feet at Aston Villa
After a slow start, it was easy to forget just how beneficial the £150k-a-week Belgian’s playmaking quality could be for Villa, with Townley also dubbing the 26-year-old as having “supernatural skill”.
With one assist, one shot on target and one key pass recorded against Fulham, via Sofascore, Tielemans is certainly growing into life at Villa and is particularly relishing the form of Watkins.
The former Leicester man has truly made the role just behind the Englishman his own, with record-signing Moussa Diaby not able to dethrone his teammate due to his growing form and confidence in recent weeks.
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