Mikel and Alderweireld Praise Tielemans £35m Transfer as a Steal
Manchester United have spent heavily and loudly in recent summers, but one of this window’s most decisive verdicts from the dressing-room old guard is reserved for a deal that slipped through almost quietly: Youri Tielemans for £35 million.
“For me, it’s Youri Tielemans. Honestly, how the f*ck did Manchester United get him for £35m? That’s a f*cking steal,” Mikel said, still sounding half-disbelieving.
Mikel stunned by the fee
Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, the former Chelsea midfielder didn’t bother to dress it up.
Mikel has seen enough elite midfielders up close to know when one can bend a game to his will. What grabs him with Tielemans is not just the Belgian’s technique, but the range of roles he can cover without dropping his level.
“Obviously, we all know how Tielemans plays, he can play as a six, an eight or a ten and when you have a player that can play anywhere, it gives you the variety to change the way you want to play. Tielemans is that guy,” Mikel explained. “He scores goals, he’s dangerous from set pieces, he’s brilliant on the ball, and he rarely gives it away.”
There is a caveat, and Mikel doesn’t pretend otherwise.
“The only thing people can say is that he’s not the quickest,” he admitted, before immediately flipping the argument. “But he reads the game so well. He is very intelligent with and without the ball. When I look at all the midfielders that have transferred to different clubs [this summer], the best one is Tielemans.”
In a market where holding midfielders and ball-progressors are changing hands for eye-watering sums, Mikel’s verdict is blunt: value for money, role versatility, technical assurance – United have ticked all three with one signing.
Alderweireld: Forget the stats, watch the player
If Mikel focused on the price and profile, Toby Alderweireld went straight to the substance of Tielemans’ game.
The former Tottenham Hotspur defender, speaking to Hajper, argued that the Belgian’s true worth can’t be captured by a spreadsheet.
“The problem with modern football is that sometimes we look too much at stats like assists and goals,” Alderweireld said. “Of course, Youri Tielemans creates assists and scores goals, and can shoot from outside the box and score free kicks, but he is so much more than that.”
For Alderweireld, the key word is courage. Not in the sliding-tackle sense, but in what a midfielder dares to do when the ball arrives at his feet.
“Tielemans is a link up player, and you have to watch him to understand why he is so important to his teams, not just look at his stats, because he is always trying to play the ball forward,” he explained.
Then came the pointed contrast, one that will resonate at Old Trafford where sterile possession has too often blunted promising moves.
“You have some midfield players who have a pass success rate of 98% but they are always playing the ball backwards,” Alderweireld said. “Tielemans is a guy who turns, opens up and plays the ball between the lines, and that’s very important for a club like Manchester United who need to break other teams down.”
This is where the signing intersects directly with United’s long-standing problem: dominating the ball without doing enough damage with it. Tielemans, in Alderweireld’s eyes, is wired to break that cycle.
Built for Old Trafford pressure
The technical qualities are obvious. What both former Premier League players keep circling back to is mentality.
Alderweireld highlighted the way Tielemans approaches even a deeper midfield role with an attacking mindset.
“Even when he’s playing in a deep role, he’s playing it in an attacking way. He’s thinking about going forwards, always,” he said. “Sometimes he will lose the ball but that’s what happens when you take some risks in games to make things happen, and I think that’s something United need, and he has the mentality to be brave and positive under the big pressure of the shirt.”
That phrase – “the big pressure of the shirt” – is no throwaway line. Old Trafford demands players who want the ball when the game tightens and the crowd tenses. Alderweireld is convinced Tielemans fits that mould.
“He will put in ultra big effort and say to his team-mates, give me the ball and let me change the game for you,” he said. “He will take the responsibility to take Manchester United forward.”
Between Mikel’s disbelief at the fee and Alderweireld’s insistence on Tielemans’ bravery and line-breaking vision, a clear picture emerges: United haven’t just signed another midfielder. They have gambled on a player who wants to own the game in the most scrutinised engine room in English football.
If Tielemans plays Old Trafford the way his former peers expect, £35 million won’t just look like a bargain. It will look like one of the defining deals of United’s rebuild.
