Manchester United’s £35m Tielemans Deal Called A Steal by Obi Mikel
Manchester United have made plenty of expensive mistakes in midfield over the past decade. This time, according to two men who know the Premier League and Belgian football inside out, they might just have pulled off the bargain of the summer.
Youri Tielemans, signed for £35m, has been hailed as the standout midfield acquisition of the window by former Chelsea lynchpin Obi Mikel, who could barely hide his disbelief at the fee.
“For me, it’s Youri Tielemans,” Mikel said on The Obi One Podcast. “Honestly, how the f*ck did Manchester United get him for £35m? That’s a f*cking steal. I watched him before and during the World Cup, and you can see that this is a player.”
That last word hung heavy. A player. Not just a set of numbers on a data sheet.
“He Can Play as a Six, an Eight or a Ten”
Mikel, who spent a decade patrolling Chelsea’s midfield, zeroed in on Tielemans’ tactical range — the sort of versatility managers crave and squads rarely possess.
“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,” he said.
This is where the deal begins to look even more outrageous. United have not just bought a passer. They have brought in a midfielder who can reshape the entire structure of a side in-game.
“He scores goals, he’s dangerous from set pieces, he’s brilliant on the ball, and he rarely gives it away,” Mikel added, ticking off attributes that, in today’s market, usually push a price tag into uncomfortable territory.
There is, he admitted, one caveat.
“The only thing people can say is that he’s not the quickest, 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 window dominated by eye-watering figures and speculative punts, Mikel is adamant: United have bought the most complete midfielder of the lot — and done it at a cut price.
Alderweireld: Forget the Stats, Watch the Player
If Mikel focused on the profile, Toby Alderweireld went after the perception. The former Tottenham Hotspur defender knows Tielemans from close quarters and believes the Belgian is routinely undersold by a modern obsession with raw output.
Speaking to Hajper, Alderweireld challenged the way midfielders are judged.
“The problem with modern football is that sometimes we look too much at stats like assists and goals,” he 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.”
This is the crux of the Tielemans debate. His numbers are good. His influence is greater.
“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,” Alderweireld explained.
Plenty of midfielders boast immaculate passing percentages. Alderweireld was blunt about what that often hides.
“You have some midfield players who have a pass success rate of 98% but they are always playing the ball backwards. 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.”
United have spent season after season wrestling with low blocks, sterile possession and a lack of incision from deep. Alderweireld’s point cuts right to that problem: Tielemans doesn’t just keep the ball, he dares to do something with it.
A Midfielder Who Wants the Ball Under Pressure
The technical qualities are clear. What excites Alderweireld just as much is Tielemans’ mentality under the glare of a club like United.
“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 willingness to risk possession in search of penetration has often been missing at Old Trafford, where sideways passing can suffocate tempo and invite pressure. Tielemans, Alderweireld insists, does the opposite. He looks for responsibility, not safety.
“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 will take the responsibility to take Manchester United forward.”
United have chased that kind of personality in midfield for years, paying premium fees and wages without always getting the character or clarity on the ball they needed. Now, for £35m, they have a World Cup-tested, Premier League-proven playmaker who wants the ball when it matters most.
The price is set. The praise is loud. The question now is simple: can Tielemans turn a “f*cking steal” into the signing that finally drags Manchester United’s midfield back to elite level?
