Manchester United have triggered the €41m (£35m) release clause in Youri Tielemans’ Aston Villa contract and reached a verbal agreement with the Belgian midfielder — a deal first revealed by David Ornstein of The Athletic and confirmed as done by Fabrizio Romano. The 29-year-old will undergo his medical on Tuesday.
Villa had no intention of selling. The club even offered Tielemans a new contract, but the release clause left them powerless once United met it — and the player was keen, drawn by Champions League football and Michael Carrick’s rebuild at Old Trafford.
The move is United’s answer to the collapsed Éderson deal: the club formally walked away from the Atalanta midfielder on Monday after complications in a second medical, and Atalanta have since offered Éderson a new contract to 2031. With Andrey Santos already secured, Tielemans becomes the second piece of United’s new midfield.
For Villa, the timing tells its own story: days after agreeing a package worth almost €70m for Johan Manzambi, the succession plan for their departing midfielder is already in place.