Youri Tielemans has not had the impact Aston Villa and many fans expected upon signing him in the summer but if his struggles continue, then the Birmingham club may look at a Premier League winner as a replacement.
At the beginning of the summer transfer market, Villa secured the signature of Tielemans on a free transfer and many football fans believed the signing had the potential to be a bargain. However, the 26-year-old has struggled to make an impression on Unai Emery and the Belgium star has only received 142 minutes of action in Villa’s opening eight matches.
This has led to speculation that Tielemans could leave in January and according to Ben Jacobs, Aston Villa could look to replace the Belgian with Premier League winner Kalvin Phillips.
The midfielder is also out of favour at Man City and could be on the move in January in order to secure a spot in the England squad for next summer’s EUROS.
Speaking to GIVEMESPORT, Jacobs names Newcastle, West Ham and Aston Villa as three clubs who looked at Phillips before he chose to remain at City in the summer and spoke about a potential exit in January.
The journalist said: “I think that clubs that have looked at Phillips, before it was clear that he wanted to stay at Manchester City, are more like your Newcastle’s and West Ham’s. Aston Villa took a look as well. He’s a slightly different player to Youri Tielemans, but that one hasn’t worked out yet. So, it is possible that Emery, in a year, if we’re being hypothetical, could look at that holding midfielder position, even though Villa have some other good players there.”
