Youri Tielemans

[Mellin]

I've just read this. Am of course gutted as he has been excellent for us. However, the 28 club are all turning 29 (he already has) and we need to start refreshing the squad one by one. The fee is derisory, but if it's a clause it's a clause.

Get the replacement right and it won't matter.

[FatSam]

As long as we are not going down the young and hungry route.  Look where that got us.

Agreed, but signing the star player from a WC quarter finalist national team doesn’t feel like that.

[TheToffnar]

Sucks, but we've been warned of this for a year.

Can't complain about high wages and old players then moan when we do something about it.

[Olneythelonely]

Let's face it, Youri didn't want to sign an extension to his contract, it's been sitting on the table for months and we get played. He did the same at Leicester which is why we managed to get him to begin with. As sickening as it is, especially with those plastic twats, it really shouldn't come as a big surprise.

What is a surprise is having a ridiculously low value clause in his contract. That's something the club have known about since we signed him and have had plenty of time to address the issue.

We’d have to get him to sign a new contract to address it, which he wouldn’t do, as you stated.

[London Villan]

He hasn't gone yet...

[SaddVillan]

The rumoured £35m release clause is only the start of negotiations.

Let's hope we can play hard ball.

Rashford on a £5m deal?

[KevinGage]

Yeah this isn't good.

[TopDeck113]

The general consensus in the run-up to the Europa final seemed to be that this was the last hurrah for a very talented but ageing squad before the necessary rebuild: they needed a piece of silverware to cement their place in Villa's history.

Given that the silverware was delivered, the departure of those players, be it this summer, next summer or the one after, is always going to be bittersweet.  However, part of the art of football club management is trying to ensure that when a player's legs go that they're wearing another club's colours.

 I can't help but think we might have seen the best of Youri and we'll always have *that* volley.   Of course I wish he wasn't going to that lot, but I think we'll see his great games get fewer and his time out injured gets longer.

[frank black]

Massive shame this, can’t see a positive. Except maybe it keeps other players from leaving. Like Guessand, Bailey etc

[eye digress]

He's our midfield playmaker/quarterback. Manzambi isn't a like for like; so we need to find somebody.

I think he might well be the replacement actually.

If Rogers stays, the Youri job is the one that Manzambi would be doing, particularly in that version where Youri was pushed up as the furthest forward of the midfield.

Before this news I was going to post similar in the other thread that Manzambi has been playing more as a general CM then winger or AM/SS this season for Freiberg, and even the small video of this contributions against us showed him playing deeper then expected. So I was thinking Tielemans cover but now probably the replacement.

Yes, by the second half, he was playing very deep, very close to his own defence, to get moves going.

[LeeB]

I'm a bit sad but he came on a free, gave us 3 great years, they can pay double what we can and he's 29.
Good luck to him, but someone was probably going to have to go and it should mean we can tell everyone else to get fucked for our other players.

[Sexual Ealing]

He's managed his career pretty well, hasn't he?!

[boozey182]

This is definitely a blow. Not least because it seems the club weren't planning for this to happen. We tend to make a hash of things we do plan for, so now we have a matter of weeks to replace one of our more important players, which is far from ideal.

Tielemans is a fantastic footballer - in terms of passing and control, he's our best apart from maybe Pau. You don't have to watch him for long to see his class. However, he has major limitations. His physicality is basically non-existent (no pace, height, energy, power etc), and he can struggle to get into matches. I've often thought that when we're playing well, Youri makes us better. When we're playing badly, Youri can't do anything about it. Even in the Europa League final, he was really struggling up until he scored, and it was Manzambi who seemed to get the better of him, catching him in possession a couple of times - the only times we looked in trouble.

We need to be smart how we play the rest of the summer, which has not been one of our strengths. Is Manzambi his replacement? He'll add a lot more pace and zip, but we will probably miss out on a lot of ball-playing and general football intelligence. Will we have to modify how we play a bit?

We won't know exactly how bad or good this is before we see the rest of our business. It would be so nice to think that we will come out of this well, with a younger, more energetic squad on less money. Tielemans is obviously going there to be on more money, and probably play fewer matches. It'll be an easier life, which I've always thought was his priority. Well, that and a nice new garden.

[john e]

I think with transfer fees, there’s always what a player is actually worth and also what the player is worth to the club he’s playing for
So for instance, 130m we’re asking for Morgan Rogers is probably too high for what he’s actually worth but to us as a club He is worth that because he’s very difficult to replace probably impossible.

With Tielemans 35 million for a 29-year-old is actually about right, but to us as a club he’s probably worth double that in what he offers
Would we be happy bringing a 29-year-old in from somewhere else for 70 million the figure we think he’s worth I doubt it

Kamara Tielamans McGinn will go down as one of the best midfields we’ve ever had in my opinion probably the best in the Premier league last year
When they all went down, so did we

He might not get the game time at Man Utd and he’s certainly got an inferior manager to play under
I don’t want to look as though I’m eating sour grapes but I don’t think he’s gonna be as big hit there as he has been at Villa Park and I don’t think that will be down to the player It will be down to the environment he’s playing in

[ASHTONVILLA]

Big player for and will be hard to replace, but if he has a release clause there is not much we can do about it.

I expect the club will be able to insist on having the whole payment up front, which will help us a lot with FFP. In on a free out for £35m when he is 29 years old and will have no sell on value is not terrible financially.

Not sure Manzambi is his replacement, I think we see at least more midfield recruit now. I also think this means we keep Rogers.