‘Not really, no’ – the perhaps surprising answer from Manchester United’s summer signing Youri Tielemans when asked whether he expected to leave his former club Aston Villa in this window.
It is easy to forget Man Utd swiftly and covertly signed a player with eight years of Premier League experience at what feels like the height of his footballing powers due to a generous release clause of just £35m.
In his first interview since joining the club, Tielemans has opened up about just how the move came around, especially having been of interest to Manchester United on a few occasions in the past as well.
“There has been two times that I spoke with the club, but it did not achieve anything so I was just very calm about it,” Tielemans said.
“It was mainly my agent that was dealing with it, I was more so focused on the World Cup which was a big thing for me. When it was time that it was accepted and acceptable, I would say then I was made aware.
Tielemans signed a five-year deal with Man Utd
“I was not expecting much [a summer move], to be fair. I was just focused on my football, focused on the World Cup, trying to perform as best as I could for my country. Then every summer something can happen.”
Tielemans joined Villa as a free agent after leaving Leicester when they were relegated to the Championship. For some reason, a move to the conventional ‘top six’ never seemed rumoured or close during his time at either of his previous clubs – which is why his move to Manchester United was deemed a surprise.
But did he think the opportunity had passed him by? “Not really, because I know that at Villa we did amazing things,” Tielemans explained.
Tielemans made his first appearance for Man Utd against PSG
“We achieved the Europa League win which was great for the club but there are still clubs above Aston Villa, and Manchester United is one of them.
“Especially at this moment, there is a very positive mood in and around the club so I am just hopeful that we can have a great story together.
“Aston Villa is a great club and I owe them the world. They have put me back at my best level so I am very thankful.”
Reuniting with Evans and Rashford
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Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo were among more Manchester United players returning for pre-season training.
Although Tielemans is still getting used to his new surroundings, he will have felt at ease knowing one member of staff very well in particular – Jonny Evans.
The former centre-back spent four and a half years with Tielemans at Leicester and is now a key member of Michael Carrick’s backroom staff.
When I asked just how nice it felt to be reunited with his former team-mate, he couldn’t resist a huge smile.
Jonny Evans played with Tielemans at Leicester, and is now a coach at Man Utd
“Jonny has always been a main character,” Tielemans said. “He has always been trying to educate young players and he welcomed me at Leicester and now here.
“It is a bit weird to see him as a staff member to be honest, but it is going great and he knows me, he knows what I need and what I can bring to the team so it helps me as well.”
Another relatively new team-mate Tielemans spent slightly less time with was Marcus Rashford. The pair spent six months together when the England international was on loan at Aston Villa for the second half of the 2024/25 season.
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With Marcus Rashford being fully reintegrated into the Manchester United squad after his loan at Barcelona came to an end earlier this summer, Sky Sports News’ Danyal Khan explains how the England forward’s return can benefit the club.
There is a lot of attention on the Man Utd winger’s return to the club as well as what he can offer this team, Tielemans only has fond memories of their time at Villa Park together and is looking forward to more of them.
He said: “He was great. There had been so much talk about him and bringing pressure with the media around him, but I thought he was just so good.
“He was very humble, he was hard working and from the first training session, you could tell, his touch, his acceleration was amazing.
“That was just what we needed at the time at Villa as well so he did many good things and hopefully he can bring them here.”
World Cup, his injury and Balogun’s red card reversal
Tielemans was Belgium’s captain at the 2026 World Cup
Tielemans has had an eventful summer, even before his surprise move to Manchester United.
He captained Belgium at this summer’s World Cup, who were knocked out in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Spain. Tielemans was unable to play in the quarter-final after picking up an injury in the warm-up, but for any Man Utd fans concerned whether he has any lingering injury concerns, he is more than ready for the new season.
Tielemans said: “It was just an overload of too many games, too many minutes and unfortunately my body could not cope with it anymore.
“We played 120 minutes against Senegal and from there, we had less time in between games. We played the USA three or four days later, then three days after that, we played against Spain. In the warm-up, my body switched off for some reason.”
Before his injury, the midfielder played a key role in Belgium’s World Cup campaign, scoring two goals in their dramatic win against Senegal in the round of 32.
Belgium beat the USA 4-1 despite the controversy surrounding Folarin Balogun’s suspended red card
However, perhaps the most eventful game was their round of 16 tie against the USA. In what proved to be one of the most controversial decisions of the tournament, USA striker Folarin Balogun’s red card was suspended for the tie, although in the end it did not matter as Belgium went on to win 4-1.
“Originally we were surprised by the decision to revert the red card and his suspension,” Tielemans said.
“Now for us, it did not really change anything other than the preparation leading up to the game because it is a different type of player than the other player that was meant to play.
“Other than that, we were very calm and we just accepted our fate and tried to have a good game.”
