Tielemans Transfer: Obi Mikel and Alderweireld Call It a Steal

Manchester United have made plenty of expensive mistakes in midfield over the years. This one, according to two men who know the position inside out, is the opposite. Youri Tielemans for £35 million? To John Obi Mikel, it borders on daylight robbery.

Speaking on The Obi One Podcast, the former Chelsea midfielder didn’t bother dressing it up.

“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 in disbelief. He’d watched the Belgian closely before and during the World Cup and saw a player ready-made for the very top.

Mikel’s admiration isn’t about a single highlight reel moment or a viral clip. It’s about range. About control. About the kind of tactical flexibility that lets a manager redraw the midfield on the fly.

“Obviously, we all know how Tielemans plays, he can play as a six, an eight or a ten,” Mikel explained. “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.”

That “guy” comes with a full catalogue of weapons. He scores goals. He’s a threat from set pieces. He’s clean and composed on the ball, rarely wasteful. For a United side that have too often been predictable and ponderous in possession, that profile matters.

There is, Mikel admitted, one familiar criticism. Tielemans isn’t the quickest. But in his eyes, pace is a footnote when the brain runs ahead of the game.

“The only thing people can say is that he’s not the quickest, but he reads the game so well,” Mikel said. “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.”

From London to Antwerp, the verdict is strikingly similar.

Toby Alderweireld, who shared a dressing room with Tielemans for club and country, sees a midfielder who does the dirty, subtle work that numbers can’t quite capture. Speaking to Hajper, the former Tottenham defender pushed back against a modern obsession.

“The problem with modern football is that sometimes we look too much at stats like assists and goals,” he said. Tielemans can do those things – he can score from distance, he can hit free kicks – but Alderweireld insisted the real value lies elsewhere.

“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.”

That last point cuts right to the heart of United’s long-standing midfield issue. Too many safe passes. Too many sideways touches. Possession for possession’s sake.

“You have some midfield players who have a pass success rate of 98% but they are always playing the ball backwards,” Alderweireld said. Tielemans, by contrast, “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 the risk profile United have lacked: a midfielder willing to thread a pass through pressure, even if it dents his completion percentage. The kind who sees a crowded low block and looks for the gap rather than the easy recycle.

Alderweireld also underlined a trait Old Trafford demands from anyone who dares to run the game there: mentality. It is not enough to be technically gifted. You have to want the ball when the stadium tightens.

“Even when he’s playing in a deep role, he’s playing it in an attacking way. He’s thinking about going forwards, always,” Alderweireld said. Mistakes will come with that approach, but he sees that as a feature, not a flaw. “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.”

Then came the line every United supporter will want to hear.

“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.”

Two former Premier League stalwarts, one from the engine room, one from the back line, both convinced United have landed the standout midfield signing of the window at a cut-price fee. Now the question hangs over Old Trafford: can Tielemans turn that “steal” into the heartbeat of a new United midfield, or will the weight of the shirt test even his courage on the ball?