Unai Emery has explained how he wants to mould Joao Gomes after replacing Youri Tielemans at Aston Villa

Wherever Unai Emery has been, his double pivot in midfield has literally been central to his team’s success. At Aston Villa, Boubacar Kamara has had two mainstay partners in Douglas Luiz and Youri Tielemans, and now Joao Gomes.

Signed for £35 million from Wolves in the summer, Gomes replaced Tielemans, who joined Manchester United for the same fee after his release clause was activated.

Tielemans’ departure came as a major blow for Villa, given the level of performances he had delivered over the previous two seasons. He won the club’s Player of the Season award in 2024/25 and played a key role in their European triumph in May.

Gomes, however, is a very different type of midfielder to Tielemans. He is more tenacious and capable of covering ground, while the Belgian is one of the Premier League’s better technicians.

In fact, Gomes won 21 more tackles (146) than any other Premier League player over the last two seasons, and 25 more than Moisés Caicedo, for comparison. In the 2024/25 campaign alone, no player in Europe’s big five leagues recorded more successful tackles than Villa’s midfielder.

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This season, Gomes’ campaign started in the worst possible way when he received a red card for violent conduct in Villa’s 4-0 thrashing away to Brighton. That setback affected his adaptation to Emery’s system and his ability to quickly establish a partnership with Kamara, but there have been more encouraging signs of late.

Since returning from his league suspension, Villa have beaten Tottenham 3-2 away, drawn with Brentford and secured another away victory against Newcastle. Gomes also started the 3-2 win at Club Brugge before coming off the bench in the 6-0 rout of Fenerbahçe.

Replacing Tielemans’ creativity and technical quality is a huge ask for Gomes, but Emery is counting on him to develop in possession and become a more complete option alongside Kamara. He could even fill in for the Frenchman when he is unavailable.

Gomes provided the assist for the only goal of the game at St James’ Park last time out, floating a perfect cross for Johan Manzambi to head past Lukas Horníček.

Goal involvements have not been a strong point of Gomes’ game since he arrived in England in January 2023, and he has registered just 11 goal contributions in 120 Premier League appearances.

Nevertheless, Emery believes he can mould Gomes into a midfielder capable of performing every task to a high standard. Before Villa’s trip to Newcastle, the Villa boss was asked to explain the transition from playing Tielemans to Gomes.

“When we signed Tielemans, he was one year behind Douglas Luiz, playing in a different position, being versatile, and progressively understanding everything,” Emery explained. “How Tielemans finished last year in his progression here was really fantastic.

“The idea we have with Joao is similar, but we need his performance quickly because Tielemans left in the summer, and we replaced him with Joao Gomes. Ross Barkley is another player who played a fantastic match on Wednesday.

“Sometimes, we must be careful with him [Barkley] to avoid some injuries or some pain he can have. And playing a lot of matches in the level we need as well the consistency and players to be ready to to get fit 100 per cent.

“So, how Joao is playing, how he's adapting, how he's being quick in his understanding of our idea, style and demands is really fantastic, and of course, there is still work to do because he can play as well as being a versatile player for us in our structure. But now he's always playing as a number eight.

"He had a very difficult moment with the red card [vs Brighton], and in that moment it was an adaptation for him. We tried to protect him, to support him, to help him in that moment, and the response of the captain as well with him was fantastic.

“So now how he is, of course, is very important for us, and how he's exploiting his qualities and adding tactical ways to get him better. So, with him, with Ross Barkley, Goretzka, we can have different players with different skills to play as midfielders and maybe as well as 10 numbers.

“So, finishing with Joao, he can play in the position of Kamara too. Kamara's deputy is normally Lamare Bogarde as well. We have Onana's injury, but Joao Gomes can play as well, doing the same task like Kamara. And can play with Barkley and Goretzka.

“Sometimes we can play with three midfielders, one going higher like we did with Barkley and maybe as well in the future we can do with Goretzka and we can do with Joao Gomes.”

While Barkley came into the starting XI against Fenerbahçe, there is still a question mark over whether Gomes and Kamara form the most effective double pivot at home, particularly against opponents Villa are expected to dominate and control possession against.

Tielemans was a master at dictating play and allowing Villa to sustain possession in the opposition’s half.

“They are different,” Emery said about Gomes and Tielemans. “So, how they can exploit with our idea, adapting and using their qualities differently, Joao and Tielemans, he has to do the same work, and he has to play more or less with the idea we have like Tielemans was playing - he's going to do the same.

“Maybe not just the same, but overall yes. He can defend different to Tielemans and he can keep the ball possession or the combinations maybe different to Tielemans, but he must add to us another level as well in different ways to improve the team.”