Aston Villa player not in group training with national side – And also involved in captaincy drama

Having finally found some sort of happy balance at Aston Villa after starting out on the fringes of Unai Emery’s project earlier on in the season, Youri Tielemans is firmly back in the Belgium squad.

So much so, in fact, that his absence from group training on Tuesday with the national team was noticed, with Het Nieuwsblad covering the behind the scenes of the first full day of the international break, and there could be a nice surprise for the midfielder.

With Kevin De Bruyne, Romelu Lukaku and Thibaut Courtois all out, the captaincy could end up falling to the Aston Villa man.

It’s recalled that the three aforementioned players are the ‘three captains’ chosen by Tedesco, but with the Manchester City star not in the squad, the striker rested for the next Belgium game and the goalkeeper having fallen out with the national team manager, the armband should next go to Jan Vertonghen.

However, there’s a chance he’s also rested, and with Yannick Carasco also injured, this leaves Aston Villa’s Tielemans the next most experience player in the squad with 65 caps.

Het Nieuwsblad state that the player ‘did not appear on the training field’ on Tuesday morning, but ‘there is no reason to worry’, as he was just doing some exercises in the gym instead.

In short, Aston Villa’s Tielemans could be Belgium’s captain in their next game, all depending on whether Tedesco decides to rest Vertonghen or not.