Scout Report: Youri Tielemans
Arsenal, always on the lookout for great, young talent seem to have lined up a big money move for a Belgian superstar. Youri Tielemans, an 18-year-old, could be brought from Belgian giants Anderlecht, despite having just signed a new contract with the club.
The midfielder became the youngest Belgian to play in the Champions League with Anderlecht and has played for every level for the Belgian national team till the U21’s. Arsenal are touted to be willing to spend close to £15 million to get the signature of the talented midfielder but just what is Youri Tielemans all about?
Another great Belgian youngster
Everyone knows this is the golden generation for Belgian football. The likes of Hazard, Dembele, Witsel, Kompany, Courtois and the rest, the country still continues to produce top talent. Youri joined Anderlecht at the age of 5 in 2002. He was at the club throughout his youth career and finally made his debut for the first team at the age of 16, becoming the 4th youngest player to have represented the club.
Tielemans does have a lot of talent; it is quite unusual for an 18-year-old to establish himself as a starter for a top club. He has played in a couple of roles for the club, including a deeper playmaker role and an attacking role and the good part is that, he can play in either position and looks extremely comfortable with the ball at his feet.
He has great technical ability and vision to match, which means that he can collect the ball in midfield and create space for himself or run with the ball and play his team-mates into space. He is athletically built and is decent enough in winning headers, plus he does have good tackling ability which is a necessity for a player in midfield. He is a two-footed player and can spray passes all across the pitch with relative ease, that marked with his vision makes perfect for pinging long balls and starting attacks from the deep.
There are a couple of rough edges regarding his game, the biggest issue is his goal scoring ability, he does have the greatest goal scoring record for the club and only has 10 goals from 83 appearances for the club. The other issue is that he often complicates play and that can lead to his downfall in a league as tough and as robust as the Premier League.
Tielemans is still young and has a lot of time on his side, his move to a big club like Arsenal or any other large club for that matter would only aide his development. The future for Belgian football is bright with the likes of Bakkali and Tielemans progressing so rapidly and Arsenal would love to have this youngster in their team for the now and the future.