Tielemans sees bright future for Leicester City – with him in it

Youri Tielemans is enjoying his football since making his $49.5 million switch from AS Monaco to Leicester City in July 2019. Brendan Rodgers has made him one of his team’s key players and the 2015/16 Premier League champions are prospering as a result. The club is now set to offer a new contract to the former RSC Anderlecht playmaker to secure his long-term stay.

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Even though Tielemans’ contract has another two years to run, the club’s officers are keen to make the 23-year-old one of the club’s top earners with a weekly wage of around $140K. It’s a similar kind of deal that was offered to another midfielder James Maddison a few months ago. The pair has been working so well this season that it’s no wonder the club wants to tie their best players to long-term contracts.

Manager Brendan Rodgers admits that he’d love to see contract talk done and dusted, but he wants his players to focus on football primarily.

"There is no rush at the moment. We would obviously love to extend his time here. When he was initially brought in on loan in January 2019 he was not playing at Monaco and he has shown over the last couple of seasons the qualities and improvements he's been able to make. He's a really important player and a joy to work with. He has incredible maturity for a young guy and you see the consistency now in his performances. He will have a couple of years left in the summer and I am sure the club will speak to him and his representatives."

Tielemans himself has been making all the right noises and it’s clear that he’s loving life at King Power Stadium, where the Foxes are set to welcome Slavia Praha in a Europa League tie. Asked if he believes they could make it all the way in the competition, Youri responded that the club is certainly equipped to compete for titles.

"Could we win it? Yes, why not? This is a club where you have the best environment you can have, especially with the new training ground that’s been completed recently. The people around you just want the best for you. It’s brilliant to be here. I really like it here. You can’t predict the future but I think everything around the club and inside the club is made for winning trophies."

The son of a Flemish father and a Congolese mother has played 34 games for City this season, missing just two fixtures in all competitions, and he’ll be looking to add to that this evening as Leicester try to make it into last 16 in the Europa League.

Europa League

Round of 32 - second leg

Wednesday

Tottenham - Wolfsberger 4:0 (1:0) (First leg result: 4-1)

/Alli 10', Vinicius 50', 83', Bale 73'/

Thursday

20.55: Hoffenheim - Molde (3-3)

20.55: Ajax - LOSC Lille (2-1)

20.55: Shakhtar Donetsk - Maccabi Tel-Aviv (2-0)

20.55: Napoli - Granada (0-2)

20.55: Villareal - Salzburg (2-0)

20.55: Rangers - Antwerp (4-3)

20.55: Arsenal - Benfica (1-1)

23.00: PSV - Olympiacos (2-4)

23.00: Leverkusen - Young Boys (3-4)

23.00: Dinamo Zagreb - Krasnodar (3-2)

23.00: Roma - Braga (2-0)

23.00: Leicester - Slavia Praha (0-0)

23.00: Milan - Crvena zvezda (2-2)

23.00: Manchester United - Real Sociedad (4-0)

23.00: Club Brugge - Dynamo Kyiv (1-1)