Each Aston Villa player has been rated on their performances so far this season and midfielder Youri Tielemans has been given the highest rating out of everyone in the squad. The Belgian has slotted into Douglas Luiz's No.6 role with ease and has been pivotal for the club in defence and attack.
Dan Rolinson and John Townley, hosts of 'Claret & Blue - An Aston Villa Podcast', rated each player out of ten for their performances across all competitions so far this season, with the help of input from fans having sent out a questionnaire for fans to give their thoughts as well.
Youri Tielemans' brilliant start to the season
Douglas Luiz's departure to Juventus made fans nervous and excited to see what business Villa would complete to replace him. Ross Barkley was brought in from Luton Town, Enzo Barrenechea came in from Juventus as part of the Luiz deal, and Amadou Onana arrived for a club-record fee from Everton. In terms of midfield signings, that was the job done for Villa and fans started to worry that Luiz's qualities hadn't been replaced going into a Champions League season. However, his replacement was already at the club and that man was signed over 12 months ago in anticipation of Luiz's exit.
Despite a slow start to life in claret and blue last season, his form picked up quickly going into the second half of the campaign and he was proving his quality in abundance towards the end of the season. This season has seen Tielemans playing in a new position. Rather than playing as the No.10 or as a wide player as he was last season, he has taken over Luiz's No.6 role in front of the defence. His tactical and technical brilliance on and off the ball has seen him control games with ease.
As a result, he was rated as a nine out of ten by Rolinson. 46% of the fans who voted via the survey provided also agreed with that rating. 13% of the vote believed he was worthy of the maximum score of ten.
"He's been absolutely excellent. There's an argument to suggest he's been Man of the Match in all of our games this season."John Townley
The table below represents his statistics for Aston Villa in the Premier League so far this season compared to 2021 when he won the Supporters' and Players' Player of the Season awards with Leicester City, who finished 5th.
2024/25 (so far) | 2020/21 | |
|---|---|---|
Pass completion | 83.8% | 78% |
Goal-creating actions p/90 | 0.43 | 0.43 |
Tackle completion | 73.3% | 41.7% |
Assists | 2 | 4 |
The Belgian international is flourishing under Unai Emery in his new role in the team, alongside his international colleague Amadou Onana. His two assists so far have also demonstrated his quality from both set pieces and crosses from wide areas. He also scored a goal as part of his Man of the Match performance against BSC Young Boys in Aston Villa's opening UEFA Champions League match.
Youri Tielemans is just a fantastic footballer.Another brilliant display for Villa today.He is absolutely outstanding.
— Gaz Williams (@GazWilliams1) September 14, 2024
Boubacar Kamara will likely return to action for Villa soon, and it will be interesting to see whether his re-introduction to the team will affect Tieleman's position in the side. Will Kamara come in for Onana and play alongside Tielemans or will Kamara play next to Onana and see Tielemans move into the No.10 role?
Other notable ratings
Emi Martinez - 7.5 (6 in the League)
The World Cup-winning goalkeeper is a vital member of the Aston Villa dressing room. Speaking with Ben Foster on 'Fozcast' Villa defender Tyrone Mings described the Argentine as "brilliant and full of confidence". However, by his high standards, Martinez has underperformed so far this season. Despite a fantastic performance against Bayern Munich in the 1-0 Champions League victory, he has conceded goals that he would be expected to save in the Premier League. Jorginho's goal for Arsenal and Liam Delap's first goal for Ipswich are both examples of shots he and we as fans would expect him to save.
Lucas Digne - 8
The French left-back delivered a wonderful assist for France's winning goal against Belgium in the UEFA Nations League last night to continue his brilliant start to the season. Having signed Ian Maatsen from Chelsea for nearly £40 million in the summer most expected Digne to quickly make way for the new arrival. However, his performances have been consistently superb and therefore have been rated very highly. Maatsen is yet to start a Premier League game for Villa, which pays testament to how good Digne has been.
Leon Bailey - 5.5
The Jamaican winger was given the lowest rating out of all the players in the squad. Bailey was phenomenal for Villa last season, registering nine goals and nine assists in helping to push Villa into fourth place. However, injury struggles and a seemingly lack of confidence has seen him perform poorly so far this season and he looks a million miles away from the pacey, skilful and exciting winger Villa fans saw last season.
Jhon Duran - 9
Having scored a number of crucial match-winning goals for Villa in the Premier League, Champions League and Carabao Cup, Duran was rated as a 9 alongside Tielemans. Duran is yet to start a Premier League game, and both he and a lot of the Villa fans are hoping to see the Colombian be used from the start in the weeks to come after scoring six goals in the opening ten games this season.
UTV