YOURI THE MAN
Foxes boss Rodgers loves Tielemans’ ‘football brain’
BRENDAN RODGERS reckons that he’s got his very own Uri Geller in his Leicester side, bending games to his will.
Magical midfielder Youri Tielemans “sees things” according to the Foxes boss – and has got an eerie degree of football wisdom in his young head.
That’s why Leicester smashed their club record in the summer by splashing out £40million for the Belgian international.
The 22-year-old did enough at the King Power during a loan spell from Monaco last season to catch the eye of a number of clubs – but it was the Foxes’ homely feel that won the chase for them.
Rodgers, whose side go to Crystal Palace today, is delighted to have landed a player he firmly believes is destined for even bigger things.
Rodgers said: “He has a view of the game. He is always looking for clarity, and for someone so young he is a wonderful coach in the game itself.
“If you see him in the game he is always talking to players, helping them.
“He is a such a fantastic player. He’s already got a wonderful vision of the game.
“Compared to lots of 22-yearolds I’ve worked with, he’s got a real football brain. He understands the game absolutely 100 per cent.”
The Foxes boss (right) says that recognising how deeply his young midfielder tunes into the action is sometimes only apparent to him in post-match video analysis.
Rodgers added: “There were a couple of bits we saw on our reflection stuff where the ball goes out to him and he bounces it first time because he understands that the picture has to change quickly.
“He’s been given a great education in football and he takes that onto the field. I was very fortunate that when I came in February he was here.”
Leicester moved quickly for a permanent deal in July and had the edge in the rush for the young Belgian’s services because he’d already tasted life at the club and living in the area. Rodgers added: “He can
come here and know he will develop and flourish as a player. He may have other choices again later on but from a football and a family perspective, this was the best option for him. “You could see he was enjoying playing here and obviously towards the end of his loan period we knew there was going to be interest from other clubs. “But we had a few long chats in terms of mapping out how it would look for him if he joined here on a permanent basis. “He was keen to come – but of course he had to explore the other possibilities, of which there was a number.” Home comforts swung it and now Leicester are reaping the reward of shrewd recruitment. Rodgers said: “For Youri, football and family is key for him. I think he wanted to come to a football club not just for his football, but for the family. “Bringing a young wife to here, this is a club which is absolutely the perfect fit, because it’s a real good family club, a community club. “He wants to improve as a player and he was always going to go where he could do that and enjoy his football – but also be where his family could be settled. “We didn’t talk in any great level of detail about his ambitions beyond that.”