Youri Tielemans insists it’s an ‘unpleasant situation’ not to start regularly at Aston Villa, hinting at his unhappiness with Unai Emery.
Youri Tielemans seems like an unhappy soul at Aston Villa. At least, that’s what his comments on the Belgian outlet DHNET hint at. The midfielder has not made much progress since joining Aston Villa during the summer on a free deal but insists he has the manager’s assurances about a change of scenario.
Aston Villa’s terrible start to the season on the opening weekend did not prompt Unai Emery to make wholesale changes to his starting lineup. The basque manager has stuck to his preferred personnel in most positions, especially central midfield.
So far, Emery has preferred the midfield paring of Boubacar Kamara and Douglas Luiz, leaving summer signing Youri Tielemans as a fixed option off the bench. The 26-year-old signing has only started one game in the Europa Conference League qualifiers against Hibernian, and now he has hinted at his unhappiness with the ‘unpleasant situation’.
Ahead of Belgium’s Euro 2024 qualifier against Azerbaijan, the midfielder spoke to the press and hinted at being unhappy with Emery and his current situation at Villa. Tielemans said, “This situation is not pleasant,” says Tielemans. I told the manager (Unai Emery) that I came to Villa to play.
“He understands me, but at the moment, he prefers to play with his two midfielders from last season. He told me that soon, the matches will follow one another and I will have more playing time. I know that this answer does not make me progress, but what should I do? Whenever I have an opportunity, I want to take it. So far, I have started once, in the Conference League (against Hibernian).”
The assurances from Emery make sense, as Villa have a long season ahead, and Tielemans a very big part of the manager’s plans. Emery did not need to shake things up with the midfielder pairing of Kamara and Luiz performing so well since the second half of last season.
With Villa coming into this season with lofty ambitions of going the distances in all competition and harbouring top-six hopes, Tielemans will get plenty of minutes. Comments like these at this stage of the season will only make things shaky in the background to the extent of spoiling relationships.
Tielemans joined Aston Villa on a free transfer from Leicester City following the Foxes’ relegation from the Premier League. The 26-year-old signing previously garnered plenty of interest from top clubs, but eventually chose to join Emery’s project at this club.
