“Very important,” Unai Emery re-emphasised. “He is playing after two months out. Now he is going away with his national team and he will come back again in two weeks, ready to add to us his quality and leadership. He is very important, with his mentality.”
Emery speaking glowingly about Youri Tielemans, as he did when speaking to journalists just before the international window, should come as no surprise. After all, the Belgian was Aston Villa’s player of the season in 2024-25.
Most telling, in the view of several sources within the setup during Tielemans’ two months out with an ankle injury, were Emery’s last three words. Tielemans’ “mentality” provides significant value to Emery, his coaching staff and, most importantly, his team-mates.
When he was ruled out, the side had suffered a third major midfield injury in little more than two weeks. Tielemans joined Boubacar Kamara and John McGinn on the sidelines, robbing Villa of in-possession proficiency but, critically, their leadership.
The trio are considered among Villa’s most professional players, knowing what it takes to excel in Emery’s demanding environment. They may not always set the standards through words, especially in the case of Kamara or Tielemans, but they do so through actions.
That might equate to arriving at training early, working to iron out technical wrinkles, completing extra rehabilitation or recovery in the gym, and generally maintaining high levels of discipline whether that is their application or time-keeping.
“He was a coach on the pitch for me,” Brendan Rodgers, who worked with Tielemans at Leicester City, told reporters last year. “His view of the game is first class. He is a real top player in mentality and attitude.”
Youri Tielemans’ absence has been keenly felt since he suffered an ankle injury against Newcastle (Stu Forster/Getty Images)
There was an unmistakable leadership vacuum in Villa’s changing room in February and March. When Tielemans, Kamara and McGinn were missing, standards slipped slightly; that was reflected in performances, with Villa winning only four of the 11 matches Tielemans missed.
Broadly speaking, patterns have emerged in how Emery treats certain players throughout his tenure. Those he considers his trusted lieutenants — he has largely allowed senior players to police the dressing room — can have tougher discussions with him. He can be brutally honest with McGinn at times, scolding performances or pressing him for more. The same is true for Tielemans.
The midfielder rarely has bad games these days, but there are isolated examples that have provoked Emery’s wrath. The most obvious came in January, away at Fenerbahce. Emery pushed the Belgium international in the chest having felt a surge of fury after Tielemans received a booking for time-wasting shortly before being substituted.
If this had happened at other clubs, or with other more sensitive players at Villa, the incident could have escalated.
Youri Tielemans clashed with Unai Emery when he was subbed off against Fenerbahce 😳
📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/jPK3YdKsto
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) January 22, 2026
Maybe counterintuitively, Emery tends to be at his most confrontational with his favourites. In his post-match press conference in Istanbul, he successfully defused the situation by simply repeating that Tielemans “is my son”.
If McGinn sets Villa’s intensity, Tielemans is the artist; undoubtedly the team’s best, most diversified passer.
His delivery can be metronomic in deep areas, progressing the ball upfield and into dangerous positions. The wastefulness that greatly impaired Villa during his absence is likely to be remedied now the midfielder has returned and is able to craft patterns of attack.
Last season, no Villa player made more forward passes, nor completed more passes, tackles, or accrued more minutes. A sign of his dominance, Tielemans became the first player in the Premier League era to create more than 50 chances and make more than 200 passes into the final third in a single campaign.
Even this season, despite playing far fewer minutes than many of his team-mates, Tielemans has won the most tackles (27), alongside Ian Maatsen and Amadou Onana.
This underlines that Tielemans is as close to a complete midfielder as Villa possess. Concerns over his general athleticism have been allayed by Emery’s more cohesive structure, which means he does not have to cover large spaces or make lung-busting recovery runs.
Youri Tielemans competes for possession with former Aston Villa forward Jack Grealish (Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Villa analysts will watch and rewatch games in which he has featured, running several data tests on midfield transfer targets to compare. Predictably, the same conclusion tends to be reached: Tielemans is really, really good.
Members of Villa’s scouting team, working at other Premier League clubs at the time, had been watching him since he was 16, by which time he was already captaining Anderlecht in his native Belgium. They were aware of the positive character references and how well regarded he was across Europe. In September 2025, he was named the national team’s permanent captain.
“He has a good relationship with everyone in the group,” Belgium’s head coach Rudi Garcia told reporters after that appointment. “He enjoys unanimity within the group. Even though other guys remain important leaders, like Kevin De Bruyne, Thibaut Courtois, Romelu Lukaku, but Youri gets the armband.”
Tielemans’ influence on the current Belgium squad was, in part, a reason for his inclusion in their March friendlies, in spite of not playing for Villa since January 19. Indeed, Garcia called up Tielemans on Friday, March 18 — the same day he was about to complete his first full training session back.
To Villa’s routine frustration, Belgium have shown a willingness to include Tielemans and Onana even when they are carrying knocks or have just returned to fitness. The club have not always seen eye to eye with the national setup, with senior figures particularly baffled by some decisions taken last season.
One source, speaking on the condition of anonymity to protect relationships, called Onana’s selection, having trained just one day with Villa in October 2024, as “crazy”. Tielemans, meanwhile, was managing a chronic knee issue in the autumn yet played 120 minutes across two friendlies.
Fortunately, Tielemans came through Belgium’s latest fixtures, playing 80 minutes across two friendlies against the U.S. and Mexico. Tielemans tends to require a run of games to feel back in rhythm after an injury, yet the midfielder was comfortable in his start against Mexico, registering an assist and offering the familiar level of guile and precision in possession.
Most pleasingly from a physical viewpoint, he won five out of six duels and made six recoveries, appearing to be in a position where he is ready to start matches for Villa.
Youri Tielemans on the ball for Belgium against Mexico in Chicago (Geoff Stellfox/Getty Images)
Tielemans’ importance cannot be understated.
When The Athletic broke the news of his inclusion in the matchday squad against West Ham United prior to the international break, the reception among subscribers was joyous. This continued when Tielemans walked out from the tunnel to take his seat on the bench before kick-off, with the nearby Trinity Road Stand and, for that matter, most of Villa Park, rising to its feet.
Supporters have long wanted Tielemans to sign a new deal, having been under the impression he was contracted until 2027. The Athletic revealed in January that the Belgian’s current agreement runs for a further 12 months, meaning he will enter his final two years this summer.
Ideally, Villa wish to renew and, provided they are on a financially stable footing, will look to do so.
Undeniably, the summer-window strategy is heavily contingent on Champions League qualification. Preliminary contract talks with other players have been put on hold until the club learn their fate. Tielemans joined as a free agent in June 2023 after leaving Leicester City, coming with a hefty signing-on fee and high salary.
Naturally, a player of his immense talent will attract suitors, both in Europe and Saudi Arabia. Yet the preferred scenario is for Tielemans to push Villa over the line in qualifying for the Champions League before, once again, proving an integral cog in Europe’s premium competition next season.
His return in time for the run in serves as a considerable fillip.
