FIST AMONG EQUALS
Kick-off 5.30pm Judo ace Tielemans has a sunny disposition, but he is the LAST one of the Foxes band of brothers that you would want to mess with
LEICESTER’S £40million record buy Youri Tielemans is a midfielder who really does pack a punch.
The fresh- faced 23- year- old is best known around the King Power for his engaging smile and broad grin.
But don’t be fooled – Tielemans is a young man it is probably best not to tangle with.
The Belgian international is a blue belt in judo – hardly surprising given that his mother, father and sister are all black belts.
This evening Fulham have the task of getting to grips with a player who is making people sit up and notice.
From a young age he was schooled in the arts of selfdefence because his parents ran a judo club.
Tielemans laughs: “We had a dog as well. Let’s just say we didn’t have any burglaries at our house!
“Judo was a part of my life until I was 16. I signed my professional contract for Anderlecht so I had to stop then, which is normal.”
He joined Anderlecht when he was just five, found himself in the first team at 16, and became the youngest Belgian to play in the Champions League in the same year.
He believes the flexibility and discipline judo gives him has helped him adapt to life in the Premier League and a place in a national team ranked No.1 in the world.
Tielemans, who won his first Belgian cap in 2016 at the age of just 19, said: “It does help with your all-round fitness – absolutely. With judo it’s just you and your body, so you have to look after yourself.
“You have to know your body perfectly to practise because otherwise you get all sorts of injuries.
“When you are injured, you can’t practise at all, you can’t do anything. So you really have to know your body and look after it.
“It helped me a lot and it still helps me because
I know my body 100 percent and I know my limits. I know what I have to do to recover.”
Asked why he plays with such noticeable joy, the happily married father of two says it is not hard to work out. I smile a lot because it pretty much reflects how I am with everything, my football, my family, my life,” he said.
“I just feel gifted and happy in my life and you can see that on the pitch. I always have a smile on my face. I always try to be happy off the pitch and enjoy my life with my kids and my family. I feel really good.”
He is loving life at Leicester after leaving the millionaire’s playground of Monaco to test himself in the Premier League. “When I came here on loan, I remember how the club, the players, the staff and the fans welcomed me,” said Tielemans (celebrating a Leicester goal, right). “I decided to come back and help the club with their ambitions.
Monaco is nice, always sunny, with the beach and swimming pool, a place where you could live a good life.
But there was lot of players coming in and out which made it difficult to settle and build relationships on and off the pitch. It was difficult to
perform. But I developed very quickly there and learnt a lot. It was an important time for me.
“I wouldn’t say coming to Leicester was by accident because everything happens for a reason. Leaving Monaco was like a fresh start. New league, new club, new country – everything was new.
“I had to settle in very quickly because there was only three months left of the season. Everything went perfectly. But it’s great here and I really love it.”