Manchester United are set to make Youri Tielemans the second signing of the summer transfer window after triggering his £35m release clause.
At the age of just 29, Youri Tielemans is set to join Manchester United after a deal advanced out of nowhere to see the Belgian join Andrey Santos at Old Trafford.
Tielemans arrives in his prime and is ready to play a part in an immediate title challenge for United under Michael Carrick. The signing highlights Ineos’ belief that the Premier League is winnable, and the Aston Villa man arrives with so much experience.
Having broken through as a teenager for Anderlecht, he has spent the best part of a decade playing European football at a high level. This included taking on Jose Mourinho’s United in the Europa League in 2017, which pitted Tielemans against a now very familiar face.
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When Youri Tielemans and Michael Carrick went head-to-head
At the age of 19, Tielemans was already the star man for Anderlecht, and he started as the Belgian side welcomed United to Brussels in the quarter-final of the Europa League.
With the usual captain, Sofiane Hanni, out of the clash, Tielemans wore the armband, and he came up against his new boss, Michael Carrick, who was the United captain.
The pair exchanged club pennants before kick-off, and Carrick and Tielemans met when doing so. Now, nine years later, they will be reunited at Carrington as manager and midfielder.
United won the game 1-1, but Tielemans had an impressive performance against a side that had Carrick and Paul Pogba as a duo.
Tielemans’ stats vs United in 2017
- 90 minutes
- 81 touches
- 2 key passes
- 46/58 passes completed
- 6 defensive contributions
- 5 recoveries
- 9/18 duels won
This would have been a learning experience for Tielemans, and he went on to become a much better player as a result.
Now Carrick and Tielemans can reminisce over this experience when they begin working together at United.
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Tielemans played alongside Manchester United’s Jonny Evans
Carrick isn’t the only member of the coaching staff that Tielemans has prior experience with or against, as he played with Jonny Evans at Leicester City.
Tielemans and Evans won the FA Cup together at Leicester and played 127 times together in one of the best versions of the Foxes, under Brendan Rodgers.
Evans is part of Carrick’s coaching staff, and so he will be key in letting the Belgian settle into life at Carrington.
Along with Evans, Tielemans also played with Maguire at Leicester 11 times and will now potentially be in a line-up with the United number five again.
Plenty of familiar faces around the club for Tielemans, including Senne Lammens, who he spent this summer training and playing alongside for the Belgian national team at the World Cup.
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