Aston Villa midfielder tipped as ‘a leader’ by Unai Emery following his current form

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery has underlined his midfielder’s incredible contribution recently on the pitch.

Aston Villa has been on an impressive run this season as they sit fourth and are still on course in the Europa League as they are halfway to the semifinal already. Unai Emery has hailed one particular name in his team following their top form recently, as reported in BirminghamMail. The player in question is Belgian international Youri Tielemans.

“Youri is here with us, the third year. And last year, he did a fantastic season, and this year, he had two injuries, and of course, they ) stopped him a little bit, but when he’s available, he’s performing like he did last year – so, so consistent, intelligent; on the field, he’s a leader.”

Emery on Tielemans’s potential

The Spanish manager also hails his role and how he has developed well to lead the team during the game. 

“The teammates feel confidence, playing with him, and he is getting his responsibility strongly. And, of course, Thursday, the first match again after his injury coming back, playing 90 minutes, I think he showed us again his leadership and his importance in our team.”

The former Leicester man has slowly transformed into one of the key men in Emery’s team despite the fact that he did not really feature regularly in his early season in Villa Park. It turned out it was part of his boss’ plan. 

“The first year, he was progressively adapting to us. He was playing less than he expected or we expected but was in the process I planned with him.”, Emery said.

Tielemans’s form this season

Emery’s praise to the Belgian midfielder is not without a reason. The 28-year-old Belgian has just gone through a difficult season, as he was injured twice and had to be sidelined for a couple of months. He only just returned to the pitch in the match against West Ham before the international break. 

This season, the ex-Anderlecht man has only made 25 appearances, registering one goal and seven assists. It is definitely less than last season when he scored five goals and provided ten assists in 53 games.

Nevertheless, he has remained actively involved heavily in the game with 12 block shots in the defensive phase. In the attacking phase, Tielemans has produced 64.3 per cent in successful dribbles, 57 per cent in winning aerial duels and 63.2 per cent in accurate long balls. He can dictate the rythm when necessary from the second line. 

In the last encounter during the midweek game versus Bologna for the Europa League quarter-finals, the Belgian midfielder with 83 international caps proved to be the key figure. He made two assists from the corner kick, which helped Villa gain an advantage as they won 3-1 on the road.

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