The midfielder is only 19 but
he has already been capped
twice by Belgium and is
destined to join one of
Europe's top clubs COMMENT Anderlecht are well aware that it
is only a matter of time before
the lose Youri Tielemans to one
of Europe's elite. "Actually, it's already
extraordinary that we have
been able to enjoy three
seasons of such talent,"
sporting director Herman van
Holsbeeck admitted in January. "Tielemans is on all lists of most
promising young players in
Europe. We know he is followed
by big clubs." Man Utd draw Anderlecht in
EL He's not wrong. Bayern Munich,
Roma, Chelsea, Tottenham,
Arsenal and Liverpool have all
scouted the 19-year-old, while
Lukasz Plonowski claimed last
August that his former team- mate even got a call from
Manchester United boss Jose
Mourinho before the start of the
season. Friday's draw for the quarter-
finals of the Europa League
means that Mourinho will now
get to speak to Tielemans face
to face next month, while the tie
also offers the midfield sensation an excellent
opportunity to further enhance
his reputation as the most
exciting young player in the
world right now. there are few teenagers who
strike the ball as cleanly as
Tielemans, who has been in
sensational goalscoring form
since the turn of the year,
netting seven times in his eight Jupiler Pro League
appearances since the winter
break. But would Tielemans prove
quite so prolific against tougher
teams? Ex-Tottenham striker
Nico Claesen stated last month:
"Succeeding in the Premier
League is something different to excelling in Belgium. At
Anderlecht, everything has
always been relatively easy for
him." However, it is worth pointing out
that Tielemans has also been
excelling in the Europa League,
helping his side reach the last
eight with a string of dominant
midfield performances, including three goals in the
group stage. Despite his tender age,
Tielemans has emerged as a
leader at Anderlecht, as
evidenced by the fact that he
was entrusted with the captain's
armband for both legs of the round-of-32 tie with Zenit. Real lament tough CL draw As Van Holsbeeck notes: "He’s
gone from a boy who played
football for fun to a man with a
lot of responsibility. His maturity
is impressive and soon he’ll be
a father, too." Where he raises his child is still
unclear, though, with Anderlecht
set to cash in on Tielemans this
summer. A bidding war looks
inevitable and it remains to be
seen who will come out on top. Former team-mate Fabrice
N’Sakala told Goal last year
that the one thing Tielemans
knows for sure is that he will
move abroad. "He’s very aware of things,” the
full-back revealed. "He knows
that his future will be elsewhere.
The clubs that wish to recruit
him are all champions. It’s a
mentality that he will have to adopt too. I don’t stop telling him
that. “But he's a complete player. He
can play long or short, has
great shooting technique. I
speak to him a lot and if he
continues like he is today, he
can go really far." 'Wet dream!' - the best CL
draw reactions PLAY Claesen admits that he would
like to see Tielemans sign for
Arsenal, believing that he would
have a better chance of
breaking into the first team at
the Emirates than most other big clubs. However, next month the
Belgium international will have
the perfect chance to show
United, Mourinho and the
watching world that he is worthy
of a place in any starting line- up. Mourinho could well end up
regretting not managing to
persuade Tielmans to have
come to Old Trafford sooner!
