Manchester United’s decision to pass on Tielemans comes back to haunt Solskjaer

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Back in the summer of 2019, Manchester United got key decisions in midfield completely wrong.

There was a botched move for Bruno Fernandes, which the club ended up making six months later anyway, with a huge slice of luck involved that no other club had snapped him up.

There were huge question marks over the future of Paul Pogba, with it unclear if he would even be going on the club’s tour of Australia. These concerns proved unfounded, but it summed up the uncertainty over the Frenchman’s status at the club, which is still unresolved.

United did have one midfield target in mind, Sean Longstaff. Newcastle put a pin in these hopes by setting a £50 million price tag on the midfielder, which looked outrageous then and even worse now.

If that was a lucky escape, the same could not be said for United’s failing to push to sign Youri Tielemans.

£40m bargain

Tielemans had impressed on loan at Leicester from Monaco at the end of the 2018/19 season.

Belgian football expert Kristoff Terreur told Sky Sports that Tielemans would have preferred a move to Manchester United, if the Red Devils made an enquiry.

It seemed like a no-brainer. Tielemans was a Belgian international with huge potential, with the all round game to replace Paul Pogba when the time came.

United sat by, chose not to move, and Tielemans signed for Leicester for a fee of £40 million.

Tielemans made United pay for this decision as he waltzed through the midfield to score to put Leicester 2-1 up at the King Power on Sunday evening.

There was some inexplicably poor midfield play and lack of challenges from United’s players, but Tielemans executed his part superbly.

The Belgian has been a consistently strong performer for Leicester since he joined and at just 23, he has a lot to offer. United missed the boat on signing him and he would cost ridiculous money now.

Was there a reason for inactivity?

There was an explanation suggested by some fans that United allowed Leicester a free run at Tielemans in order to garner favour with the Foxes over a move for Harry Maguire.

United signed Maguire a month after Tielemans’ deal to Leicester went through.

The trade off for Leicester was probably worth it, which would suggest from United’s part it was a poor deal.

United could have signed Tielemans, and then signed another centre-back for cheaper than Maguire, say Ruben Dias at £50m, for roughly the same outlay.

The challenge now is to be more efficient in the transfer market, and find the next Tielemans this summer.

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