Unai Emery blasted with claim injured Aston Villa star 'played too much'

Tielemans has missed Villa’s last two matches with a calf problem and is a doubt for Sunday’s final day trip to Manchester United.

The 28-year-old was the only Villa player to have started every Premier League match this season before being sidelined, racking up 52 starts in all competitions after also being a key player in the Champions League and FA Cup.

Garcia, who has named Tielemans in his squad for next month’s World Cup qualifiers, believes it is this workload which has eventually taken its toll.

Emery has not yet ruled out the midfielder returning for the crucial trip to Old Trafford, as Villa chase Champions League football.

But Red Devils head coach Garcia said: “Obviously, there’s the final match for Aston Villa this weekend.

“But what matters is that Youri is fully recovered - not necessarily that he plays in the last match.

“He’s already played plenty this season. I think he’s the player who has played the most. I would even say it’s not surprising that he got injured, because to me, he played too much.”

Villa suffered chronic injury issues during the middle part of the season and Emery says left him unable to give the likes of Tielemans and John McGinn more rest.

But Garcia disagrees saying: “I think within Aston Villa’s squad, there were ways to give him some rest at times. 

“I know Boubacar Kamara well, because I was the one who gave him his debut at Marseille. He was a central defender, and I turned him into a midfielder.

"That speaks to the kind of position changes we could consider, maybe even at right-back, with players from the national team. They have McGinn who can play there too. So in my opinion, they really had plenty of players to give Youri a break and avoid injury.”

Villa head into the final day still firmly in the race for a top-five finish but knowing they will likely need to win to stand any chance of leapfrogging one of the teams above.

But Garcia, whose team face North Macedonia and Wales next month to start their qualifying campaign, does not want to see Tielemans risked unnecessarily.

He said: “Apparently, it’s not too serious, but it’s the calf. And personally, I don’t like calf injuries because they’re sneaky. I don’t know if that makes sense - they’re sneaky and insidious. 

“So I really hope Aston Villa’s medical staff have analysed it well for Youri and that he doesn’t come back too soon and re-injure himself this weekend. 

“That’s why I’m telling you that if he doesn’t play, it’s not a problem. I’d rather we take care of his recovery ourselves. At least that way, we’ll be sure of the quality of the recovery.”