Amadou Onana will return to Belgium on Wednesday night when Aston Villa take on Club Brugge in the Champions League.
On the Premier League stage, life has been difficult for Unai Emery, especially after Villa’s damaging defeat to Tottenham over the weekend.
But the mood and performances have been different in Europe’s elite competition, with Aston Villa making a 100% start to their Champions League campaign.
It remains to be seen what changes Emery makes to his Aston Villa XI for the Brugge game, but Onana will be hoping to keep his place in the side.
The summer signing returns to his home country and he will be hoping to continue his own fine start to the season.
But, at the age of 23, he isn’t the senior figure in the Aston Villa midfield, with another familiar face alongside him.
Amadou Onana says he is ‘learning a lot from’ Youri Tielemans at Aston Villa
When Douglas Luiz left Villa for Juventus in the summer, then fresh legs were needed in the middle of the park.
The powers that be turned to Ross Barkley after suffering relegation with Luton Town and then Onana from Everton.
The arrival of Onana made even more sense given that he shares a midfield with Tielemans on the international stage.
Tielemans is four years older than his fellow countryman and Onana stated that he is still ‘learning a lot’ from the technician, as posted by Aston Villa’s Twitter account.
“I think it comes from playing at Belgium,” said Onana on his connection with Tielemans.
“Youri is someone who has been in the game a while, that knows different aspects of the game that I don’t know for example.
“It’s really enjoyable to play with him and learn a lot from. We have chemistry outside of the field too and are quite complementary together. It makes it easier to go out there and put on a show and put on a performance.”
Tielemans’ stats for Villa this season
Many think that Tielemans has been Villa’s best player this season and his numbers certainly show it because he has been outstanding.
Both on and off the ball, he is showing that he has everything to his game and is now one of the first names on the teamsheet.
WhoScored have rated Tielemans’ Champions League performances at an impressive 7.53 and he is rated at 7.18 for his Premier League showings.
| Tournament | Apps | Tackles | Goals | Assists | Inter | Drb | SpG | PS% | Key P | MotM | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Champions League | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 1.3 | 84.3 | 1 | 1 | 7.53 |
| Premier League | 10 | 2.3 | – | 3 | 1 | 0.9 | 0.9 | 86.3 | 2.2 | 2 | 7.18 |
