Manchester United are closing in on the signing of Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa after their move for the Atalanta midfielder Éderson fell through.
Jason Wilcox, United’s director of football, is in advanced talks with Villa regarding a financial package for Tielemans. The 29-year-old, who was part of Belgium’s World Cup squad, is thought to have a £35m (€41m) release clause in his contract, which has two years remaining.
Tielemans has considerable Premier League experience having joined Leicester from Monaco in 2019 before moving to Villa on a free transfer four years later. The player has 90 caps for his country and captained them at the World Cup, where they were lost 2-1 to Spain at the quarter-final stage on Friday.
With Casemiro having departed United at the end of last season and Manuel Ugarte considered a squad player at best, Michael Carrick is seeking to overhaul his midfield department. A £48m plus £2m add-ons deal for Chelsea’s Andrey Santos has been agreed and Éderson was set to be Carrick’s second midfield signing of the summer window. However, a proposed transfer for the 27-year-old Brazilian was cancelled following his medical, so United have moved ahead with their interest in Tielemans.
The intent to recruit Tielemans signals a shift in United’s transfer policy give his age means he will have little or no sell-on value. He would also represent a notable loss to Villa, especially in light of the ruptured anterior cruciate ligament injury sustained by his compatriot Amadou Onana at the World Cup.
Villa do appear set to bolster their midfield options with the £49m (€57m) signing of Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi from Freiburg, however.
Manzambi’s arrival will boost Villa before a season in which they return to the Champions League, and his move represents a considerable blow for Newcastle.
St James’ Park executives thought they had secured a deal for the versatile 20-year-old, who has impressed at the World Cup, after flying to Germany last week.
Although Manzambi is understood to have offered them verbal assurances that the personal terms on offer were acceptable, he did not want anything formalised until Switzerland exited the World Cup, which they did following defeat against Argentina on Sunday. As soon as that happened, with Manzambi sidelined with a minor knee injury, Villa stepped in.
Newcastle are implementing a new transfer policy of buying players aged 24 or younger and, ideally, costing less than £40m (€47m). So far they have signed three players aged 20 or younger – the goalkeeper Ewen Jaouen, the winger Bazoumana Toure and the midfielder Sean Steur, from Reims, Hoffenheim and Ajax respectively, spending around £80m (€94m) in total.
Howe, whose side finished a disappointing 12th in the Premier League last season, is anxious to balance their youthful promise with experience and he appears determined to try to keep Bruno Guimarães – but much depends on how much Arsenal are prepared to pay for the Brazil midfielder and how hard he pushes to leave. Newcastle are still waiting for the Premier League champions to make a formal offer for their 28-year-old captain. - Guardian