Manchester United sign Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa in £35m deal

Manchester United have completed the signing of Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa for £35million, with the Belgian midfielder committing to a five-year contract at Old Trafford.

Villa were reluctant to part with Tielemans this summer, but the 29-year-old pushed for the move to Manchester. He spent three years at Villa Park, contributing to the club’s Europa League triumph last season, and arrives at United as an experienced, versatile central midfielder whose range of passing has drawn widespread praise.

The deal follows United’s £50million signing of Andrey Santos from Chelsea earlier this week, bringing the club’s combined midfield outlay to £85million in this transfer window. United had also been linked with West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes at a similar price but declined to meet the Hammers’ valuation.

Tielemans is well known to Premier League supporters from his four seasons at Leicester City, where he became a fan favourite and scored the only goal in the Foxes’ 1-0 FA Cup final victory over Chelsea in 2021. He joined Villa on a free transfer after Leicester’s relegation from the top flight.

On the international stage, Tielemans captained Belgium at this summer’s World Cup, starting every match and scoring twice before missing the quarter-final against Spain due to a knock sustained in the pre-match warm-up.

United are not expected to stop at two midfield additions. Bournemouth’s Alex Scott and Borussia Dortmund’s Felix Nmecha are understood to be on the club’s radar as manager Michael Carrick continues to reshape his squad ahead of the new season.

Carrick’s side begin their pre-season programme against Wrexham in Finland on Saturday.