Manchester United are set to finalise a deal to sign Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa due to the midfielder’s £35million release clause according to The Athletic.
Tielemans is under contract until June 2028 and Villa have no desire to sell him, having offered him new terms months ago, but they have little choice because of the mechanism.
United have identified an opportunity to land the 29-year-old midfielder and, despite interest from elsewhere, he favours a move to Old Trafford.
Contact is ongoing between all parties to finalise the transfer, which comes as something of a surprise but would add much-needed quality and experience to an area of the field United have been prioritising this summer.
Their pursuit follows United’s decision to abandon a move for Atalanta midfielder Ederson at present.
A deal worth €40.5million ($47m; £35m) fixed plus €4.5m ($5m; £4m) of potential add-ons was struck for Ederson last month, while personal terms with the Brazil international had also been agreed.
Initial medical tests were conducted before Ederson received a late call-up to his country’s World Cup squad.
United continued background work in the meantime and that enabled them to pivot quickly when the second round of medical checks were completed post-tournament.
They may look to revisit the situation later in the transfer window — efforts to strengthen Michael Carrick’s midfield go beyond Tielemans and the recent acquisition of Andrey Santos from Chelsea — although it is unclear if Atalanta and Ederson would do the same.
Tielemans joined Villa from Leicester City on a free transfer in the summer of 2023 and he has two years left on his contract.
He was an important part of the Villa side that qualified for the Champions League and won the Europa League during the 2025-26 campaign, providing two goals and seven assists across 35 appearances in all competitions.
The Athletic reported this month Unai Emery wanted to build around the Villa midfield three of Tielemans, Boubacar Kamara and Amadou Onana — however the latter will be out for a significant period having torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) during Belgium’s World Cup win over the United States.
