Aston Villa U-turn possible as UCL escape route emerges for disgruntled summer signing
Clement Lenglet, Nicolo Zaniolo, Emi Martinez, Leon Bailey, Youri Tielemans and Lucas Digne
Youri Tielemans could be presented with the chance to leave Aston Villa after just six months after Galatasaray were encouraged to revisit their interest, according to reports in Turkey.
Aston Villa were the lucky club who picked up Tielemans on a free transfer after he left Leicester City in the summer. Given his pedigree and the range of interest in his services, winning the race to sign him was no small accomplishment for Unai Emery’s side.
However, the move is yet to pay off for either party. Villa are now eight games deep into their Premier League season and Tielemans hasn’t started any of them.
He has come on as a substitute in all of their matches and has started four out of five cup games, but his impact has not been what was expected.
Therefore, there are claims he could leave Villa after just half a season. According to Fanatik, he remains a target for Galatasaray, who were also interested in him over the summer.
The report claims Tielemans’ agent has encouraged the Super Lig champions that they can resume talks for a move ahead of the January window. It is not entirely clear if it would be a loan or a permanent deal.
Tielemans is under contract at Villa Park until 2027. At the age of 26, though, he will want to be playing a prominent role throughout his peak years.
It appears that might be more likely at Galatasaray, since their manager Okan Buruk is said to be extremely keen on adding Tielemans to his squad.
While the report seems quite strong that he wants out of Villa specifically, whether or not the former Monaco man would want to turn his back on the Premier League altogether at this stage remains unclear, although there would be the added temptation of Champions League involvement with Galatasaray if they can make it out of a group that also contains Bayern Munich, Copenhagen and Manchester United.
Some familiar faces in the Galatasaray squad that Tielemans could provisionally link up with are his former Leicester teammate Tete and his Belgian compatriot Dries Mertens.
A move to Galatasaray would effectively see Tielemans move in the opposite direction to Nicolo Zaniolo, who came to Villa on loan from the Turkish side over the summer.
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