Yahoo News New Aston Villa dynamic in town as Douglas Luiz transfer decision vindicated
Youri Tielemans has enjoyed an excellent start to the season and is proving his importance in Aston Villa's XI following the summer sale of Douglas Luiz.
Signed on a free transfer last summer, Tielemans returned to the King Power Stadium on Saturday to face his former club Leicester City. He played the full 90 minutes plus stoppage time for the third consecutive match, being just one of four outfield players who Unai Emery has relied on throughout the whole of each game so far.
He has started alongside compatriot Amadou Onana in the double pivot in each of the matches, both providing a strong balance in the middle of the park. When Emery joined Villa, Luiz and Boubacar Kamara formed an effective partnership in midfield, but now there is a different dynamic following the sale of Luiz and the injury suffered by Kamara.
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Villa were forced to raise funds before the end of June and chose to let go of Luiz, who wasn't deemed as important as the likes of Emi Martinez, Ollie Watkins or Ezri Konsa, who could have fetched huge fees.
Meanwhile, France international Kamara is due to return to training this month and could be available for selection next month. He will give Emery even more depth in midfield, where Ross Barkley is also pushing for minutes. The former Luton Town midfielder was singled out for praise after his performance off the bench in Villa's 2-1 win over Leicester City yesterday.
Onana picked up a knock early in the second half and was replaced by Barkley, while Tielemans remained on the pitch, playing a key role in the victory. He nearly grabbed what would have been his second assist in three games when he played Ollie Watkins through on goal in the opening stages, but the striker couldn't quite get the ball under control before Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen denied him.
It was Tielemans' disguised pass which allowed Jacob Ramsey to pull the ball across the box for Onana to open the scoring in the 28th minute as Austin MacPhee's set-piece routine paid off.
In his first three games of the season, Tielemans has completed 127 successful passes, recording an accuracy of 85 per cent and nine shot-creating actions. He has also created six chances, recovered the ball 16 times, won 18 duels and five fouls.
The 27-year-old's start to the season is one of the big positives from the start of Villa's season considering he has impressed from the position which Villa had just lost one of their key players in Luiz.
