Youri Tielemans

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Youri Tielemans



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Current Club: Leicester City.

Previous Clubs: AS Monaco, RSC Anderlecht.

Loan Clubs: Leicester City.





International: Belgium 47caps 4goals.

Trophies Won: English FA Cup 2021. Belgian League 2013/14, 2016/17. Belgian Super Cup 2012/13, 2013,14. Community Shield 2022.





Tielemans is the kind of player that looks like a world beater in highlight reels but his overall play has significant deficiencies that have held him back from becoming a world class player playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world. He is one of those players who is capable of so much more and it is only his own mentality that is holding him back and stopping him from achieving his full potential.



The biggest problem for the Belgian midfielder is that he has an excellent engine and is fully capable of getting up and down the pitch for 90 minutes but he so often is caught sauntering back, instead of chasing back. It is the age old issue of a player who sprints when getting up for attacks but rarely puts in the same amount of effort getting back to help out the defence when it is required.



Watching Tielemans in the attacking third shows a player with good movement, an excellent range of passing, good strength, a powerful and usually accurate shot, good touch, decent pace and good vision. He shows great drive and desire when driving forward, often being the key player in Leicester attacks and is creative.



However, his best position is in central midfield but playing him there means sacrificing a bit defensively, particularly in transitions, where he is regularly found wanting as Tielemans' drive and desire often deserts him when tracking back. When he is back, he does show that he is fully capable of providing protection to a defence, it is just getting Tielemans back in the first place that is the problem.



What he probably needs to do is play in a safe team, that provides plenty of cover behind him so that he has no need to chase back. Playing Tielemans in a high press works so long as the press works, once it is broken he becomes a liability and of no use to the team at all.



With the Foxes that can be seen when the midfield gets overrun at times, particularly if Ndidi is absent, which was especially obvious in the early parts of this season, and then their defence is overwhelmed. Of course the real answer would be to get him to put in more effort when tracking back but if that is not Tielemans' natural mentality it may not be possible, so you just have to decide whether he offers enough going forward that it makes up for what he doesn't offer you defensively.



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Requested by - Longthing76