Leicester’s three best performing players from October

Leicester City’s player of the month: Youri Tielemans

We all know how good Youri Tielemans is. We don’t need any reminders. His FA Cup winning goal was legendary enough, but in October, Youri came to life.

It is hard to find any more superlatives for the Belgian that haven’t already been used. When he was signed on loan in 2019, it was seen as a big coup for the club. The midfielder hadn’t been performing as his best for Monaco, but even still, it was a big name.

He exceeded expectations for Leicester, and instantly became a fan favourite with his incredible passing and finishes. That summer, the transfer saga for Youri felt like it went on forever. Manchester United wanted him. There were talks of Spurs hijacking the deal. Ultimately, Youri chose Leicester and has since turned himself into a legend for the club.

£40m for him was a bargain fee. Remember, Chelsea paid £35m for Danny Drinkwater. The transfer market is ludicrous at the best of times, but Youri was worth every penny. Leicester wouldn’t even consider double that fee for him now if anyone were to bid for him.

It’s common knowledge that Youri has a rocket of a shot in him, but he wanted everyone to be reminded of that this month. His equaliser against Manchester United was audacious to say the least. Mason Greenwood had fired the visitors ahead with a rocket shot, but sloppy play from Maguire led to Kelechi Iheanacho passing the ball in the way of Tielemans. He wasn’t in an angle to shoot. We all expected a ball to be swept into the danger area. But the sheer audacity to just float and chip the ball over De Gea was outrageous.

There was some debate over whether it was meant to be a shot, or if it was a botched cross. For me, there is no doubt that he meant it.

Against Spartak four days later, he was injured before half-time, but still continued and provided a brilliant assist for Patson Daka’s hat-trick. Smartly though, he was then taken off and was a doubt for Sunday’s tough trip to Brentford.

Come Sunday, Tielemans was in the starting XI, and delivered the opener in the capital. A ball deflected off of a free kick found its way to Youri who was around 30 yards away from goal. To any other player, to shoot is a farcical choice, for Tielemans it’s nature. The goal didn’t come from placement, it was about pure power. The fact that the net stayed intact was the biggest surprise.

The goal was special, but the Belgian’s pre-assist for Maddison’s winner was mouth-wateringly good. Up to that point, it was all Brentford. The game was level at 1-1, it was tight and tetchy for the East Midlander’s. And then, out of nowhere, on the counter-attack, Youri delivered a defence splitting pass to Patson Daka, who rolled it square to Maddison to see the game off. That’s just what Youri does for Leicester City.