Youri Tielemans at Old Trafford. It is merely a feature of the fixture list this weekend, but it may have a pleasant ring to it for Manchester United. If uncertainty hangs over them, it does with him, too. Tielemans’ contract expires in 2023. He is yet to re-sign and presumably won’t. Leicester may have a decision to make, whether to cash in while they still can on the man who won them the FA Cup or see him leave on a free transfer in 14 months’ time.
There are reasons aplenty to feel that United should sign Tielemans; indeed, to believe they ought to have done when Leicester bought him in 2019. A classy passer with an eye for goal and the ability to excel against the top teams, he seems eminently capable of flourishing for them. There is also the possibility Tielemans’s potential availability could alert many another: there have been times in recent seasons when the Belgian and Wilfred Ndidi have looked superior to many a midfield at supposedly big-six clubs. They have helped Leicester outperform them, either over 90 minutes or a campaign, if rarely this season.
Tielemans is the seeming anomaly who is actually part of a wider trend. The Premier League is populated by high-calibre midfielders at – in theory, anyway – mid-table clubs. Some could offer immediate, if at times expensive, upgrades to the superpowers. There are too many of them to find a berth for each at big-six clubs, but there could be a midfield merry-go-round in the summer.
Certainly Declan Rice should figure prominently on many a shopping list. David Moyes has called the England international the best midfielder in first England and then Europe and if there was an element of hyperbole, it is hard to construct a team of the season without Rice in it. His exponential improvement has taken him to another level and, fine a team as West Ham are, Rice can still look too good for them at times.
His England sidekick Kalvin Phillips had kicked on similarly, until injury ruined his campaign. Each comes with the pedigree of player who started the final of a major tournament and the Leeds player has admirers. John McGinn has many, too, even if Aston Villa’s financial muscle could keep him in the Midlands. Brighton’s Yves Bissouma may be a likelier departure. Wolves can be grateful that Ruben Neves has seemed curiously content to stroke passes around at Molineux. Perhaps five seasons there will become six. Maybe James Ward-Prowse is destined to remain the best player in a lesser side rather than a squad player elsewhere but were the midfield cupboard barer, he would be a logical target.
The most obvious name from outside the division to enter the summer auction is Jude Bellingham, whose range of attributes and seemingly unlimited potential should qualify him for a place anywhere. And there may be vacancies, even if Rodrigo Bentancur’s impressive start at Tottenham has lessened their need for midfield reinforcements. Granit Xhaka has remained a favourite of each of Arsenal’s last three managers and a much-maligned figure is a better player than many of his detractors may admit, but Tielemans and Neves nevertheless look more enticing options.
It will be instructive if Liverpool look for a belated replacement for Gini Wijnaldum, a selfless performer who can do more of the work in the back half of the team while the full-backs fly past him, or if Pep Guardiola, the high priest of midfielders, looks to add to his congregation. Certainly Chelsea – once such minor issues as ownership are resolved – may be interested in a fourth central midfielder. And then there is United, with Paul Pogba probably going, Donny van de Beek presumably hoping to exit as well and the honest triers Scott McTominay and Fred, while two of the more impressive performers of Ralf Rangnick’s reign, often damned by comparison with opponents who ply their trade for smaller clubs in more stylish fashion. If the dream United midfield for 2021-22 may consist of Rice and Bellingham, there are other potential partnerships they may be able to procure in the transfer market who could offer the prospect of a higher class of midfield.
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