Youri Tielemans has revealed that his surprise switch to Manchester United this summer was not something he saw coming, despite the Red Devils having circled him in previous windows.
Asked directly whether he expected to leave Aston Villa in this transfer window, the midfielder was refreshingly candid.
Not really, no
It is worth remembering just how swiftly and quietly Manchester United moved to land a player with eight years of Premier League experience under his belt, doing so via a release clause reported at just £35m at what many consider the peak of his career.
According to ESPN, United have now officially confirmed the signing after triggering that release clause, describing it as part of a wider midfield overhaul at Old Trafford. The Athletic's transfer desk, meanwhile, reported that Tielemans put pen to paper on a five-year contract running through to 2031, as detailed in The Athletic.
In his first interview since completing the move, Tielemans shed light on exactly how the deal materialised, revealing that Manchester United had previously come knocking on more than one occasion without success.
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
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
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 had joined Villa on a free transfer after Leicester City's relegation to the Championship. Curiously, a move to one of the established 'top six' clubs was never seriously linked during his time at either Leicester or Villa, which is precisely why this transfer to Manchester United raised eyebrows.
How the deal came together
The Guardian's report on the transfer noted that United's pursuit of Tielemans gathered pace only after an unsuccessful attempt to land Atalanta midfielder Éderson, as covered by The Guardian. The same report traced Tielemans' journey from Monaco to Leicester in 2019, before he arrived at Villa Park on a free transfer four years later in 2023.
United's interest in strengthening the middle of the park has been an ongoing theme this summer, with the club also credited with tracking Real Madrid's Aurelien Tchouameni as Manchester United plot Aurelien Tchouameni move despite Real Madrid contract claims, part of Michael Carrick's broader push to reinforce his midfield options.
The Athletic also reported that Villa had offered Tielemans fresh terms months before the switch, but were ultimately powerless to prevent his exit given the release clause written into his existing deal, according to The Athletic. There is some discrepancy over the exact figure involved - Football Transfers put the fee at around €41 million in its report at Football Transfers, while other outlets, including The Athletic, cited the £35m figure tied directly to the release clause.
Villa's need to balance the books has been a recurring storyline, with the club previously having to weigh sales against signings under Unai Emery due to PSR pressures, as explored in Aston Villa follow familiar transfer path as Unai Emery's magic faces a limit, an article that had already named Tielemans among the club's biggest names potentially on the move.
Despite that financial backdrop, Tielemans was quick to insist he doesn't feel like his big move came too late in his career.
Not really, because I know that at Villa we did amazing things
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
While Tielemans is still finding his feet at his new club, he already has a familiar face to lean on in Jonny Evans, who spent four and a half years alongside him at Leicester and now works as a key part of Michael Carrick's coaching staff.
When asked how it felt reconnecting with his old team-mate, Tielemans couldn't hide his delight.
Jonny has always been a main character
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 team-mate he's crossed paths with before, albeit for a shorter spell, is Marcus Rashford. The two spent six months together when the England international joined Villa on loan for the second half of the 2024/25 season.
With plenty of eyes on Rashford's return to United and what he can offer the squad, Tielemans looks back on their time together at Villa Park fondly and is hopeful of more of the same at Old Trafford.
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 has packed plenty into his summer, well before the Manchester United transfer even materialised.
He captained Belgium at this summer's World Cup, a run that ended in the quarter-finals against eventual champions Spain. Tielemans missed that game through injury sustained in the warm-up, but he was keen to reassure Manchester United supporters that there are no lingering concerns heading into the new season.
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 that setback, Tielemans had been central to Belgium's run through the tournament, scoring twice in their dramatic round-of-32 victory over Senegal - a match ESPN confirmed finished 3-2 to Belgium in its report on the transfer at ESPN.
Arguably the most talked-about fixture of Belgium's campaign, though, was their round of 16 clash with the USA. In one of the tournament's most contentious moments, USA striker Folarin Balogun's red card suspension was overturned ahead of the game, though it ultimately made no difference as Belgium ran out 4-1 winners.
Originally we were surprised by the decision to revert the red card and his suspension
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
What happens next
Reports in the days leading up to the deal suggested Tielemans was expected to be formally unveiled by Manchester United within a week of terms being agreed, according to Football Transfers. That timeline has since played out, with the club confirming the signing and Tielemans already speaking publicly about his new role, his five-year commitment to 2031, and his hopes of forging what he called a great story together with Manchester United.
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