Aston Villa fans now ‘seeing the worst’ of £150k-a-week star at Villa ParK
Aston Villa star has been the ‘worst player on the pitch’ at times this season.
Youri Tielemans has failed to meet expectations at Aston Villa this season, with his lack of game time and poor performance against Everton raising questions.
The midfielder has yet to start a Premier League match for Villa and has not earned the trust of manager Unai Emery.
Tielemans is currently one of the highest earners at the club, despite his underwhelming performances, which could cause internal problems. The transfer may be considered a mistake if he doesn’t improve.
Aston Villa are currently seeing the ‘worst’ of new signing Youri Tielemans because of one major factor, journalist Ben Jacobs has suggested to GIVEMESPORT.
Tielemans arrived at Villa Park amid much fanfare in the summer window, but Jacobs believes the former Leicester City midfielder has failed to match any expectations so far this season.
Aston Villa star Youri Tielemans – Latest news
A transfer which was considered one of the steals of the summer, Aston Villa snatched Tielemans at the end of his contract with Leicester, beating plenty of competition from across the continent to his signature. Fancied to go on and establish himself in the Villans starting 11 right away, it hasn’t been the case for Tielemans up until this point, with the Belgian having struggled for game time.
In the Premier League so far this season Tielemans is yet to start a match for Aston Villa, with all of his six appearances having come from the substitutes bench. A surprise, given the excitement surrounding his move to Villa Park, Tielemans has not yet done enough to convince manager Unai Emery that he’s worthy of starting minutes in the Premier League.
The former Anderlecht man was handed a starting role for Aston Villa’s midweek League Cup clash against Everton, which ended in disaster for the West Midlands outfit, who lost 2-1 to the relegation candidate. Tielemans, who picked up an astonishingly low 4.9 rating from Fotmob, was adjudged to have been at fault for one of the Everton goals and had his time on the pitch cut short by a second-half substitution.
A horrific showing for Tielemans and one which is predicted to have set his hopes of starting for Aston Villa in the league back even further.
‘Worst player on the field’ – Ben Jacobs
When quizzed about the midfielder’s start to life at Aston Villa, journalist Jacobs admitted that Tielemans doesn’t have the trust of manager Emery and believes that he’s likely to spend more time on the bench than the pitch this season. Pointing towards his woeful performance against Everton as the main contributing factor, the reliable reporter expects Tielemans to be frozen out of the Aston Villa side, unless the Belgian international can display a change of character over the comings weeks and month:
“You sort of see these two extremes with Tielemans. He’s either a leader and incredible, or he can be very poor and very demotivated. At Leicester, at times there was very little between those two extremes and I think at the moment Aston Villa are seeing the worst of Tielemans.
“But they signed him because they’re aware of what the best of Tielemans is. So there’s almost a risk-reward element at the moment from Aston Villa’s point of view, which Tielemans are they going to get?
“Tielemans has to show them what he can do in training to kind of earn back a bit of trust from Emery to get into the starting lineup.
“The harsh truth is that against Everton, which was a very poor loss for Aston Villa, Tielemans was the worst player on the field. He was dreadful in possession, he was sloppy, he was not focused on the task at hand. So it’s understandable that there is fresh criticism. And I think that he did nothing unfortunately in that game to show Emery that he’s worth starting at the moment in the Premier League.”
| Aston Villa summer signings | Fee |
| Pau Torres (Villarreal) | £33m |
| Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen) | Undisclosed |
| Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) | Free |
| Rico Richards (West Bromwich Albion) | Free |
| Nicolo Zaniolo (Galatasaray) | Loan |
| All fees according to Sky Sports | |
Was the Youri Tielemans transfer a mistake for Aston Villa?
Based on his current form, it’s hard to see how it doesn’t end up being considered a mistake for the one-time European champions. While they may have benefited from not having to shell out a hefty transfer fee, Tielemans has slotted in as one of the club’s highest earners.
It’s reported that Tielemans is pocketing around £150,000 per week at Aston Villa, which is believed to be the highest in the squad, alongside Boubacar Kamara and Clement Lenglet. Likely to be one of the factors which persuaded Tielemans to join Aston Villa ahead of some of the other sides chasing his signature, the midfielder is remarkably earning more money than some of the side’s best performers. Emiliano Martinez, Ollie Watkins and even fellow new boy Moussa Diaby, whose start to life at Villa Park has been exponentially better than Tielemans’, are all earning less than the midfield man – something which could cause them internal problems down the line.
Only time will provide an answer as to whether Tielemans proves value for the money they’re splashing on his wages, but given the way he’s started life at Aston Villa, it’s going to take a monumental turnaround for the transfer to be judged a success.
