Manchester United have completed the signings of Youri Tielemans from Aston Villa and Andrey Santos from Chelsea to strengthen their midfield this summer. The double arrival came after Casemiro departed at the end of last season, and an injury to Manuel Ugarte at the World Cup briefly left the club with just one fit senior midfielder.
Carrick's question to Evans
Before signing Belgium's captain, United coach Michael Carrick asked Jonny Evans whether Tielemans would drive standards. Evans, who played alongside Tielemans 127 times for Leicester City, gave his backing. "I played with Youri myself for four-and-a-half seasons at Leicester," Evans told MUTV, "so I know what Youri's all about."
Evans added: "He is 100 per cent [a leader]. Even at my time at Leicester, he was always one of the players that was setting high standards, which was one of the first things the manager asked me about. [He] asked my opinion when the opportunity came up to sign him. That was one of the first things."
Tielemans' familiar faces at United
Tielemans is surrounded by familiar faces at United from his days at Leicester and Aston Villa. He played with Marcus Rashford during a brief loan spell at Villa Park, and also played briefly with Harry Maguire before the defender joined United.
"I played with Harry for just a bit less than six months and it was great at the time," Tielemans told MEN Sport. "You could see him and Jonny had a great partnership. Harry was younger at the time and Jonny was guiding him a bit more, but you could see his qualities on the ball. Defensively, he is rock solid, so I think he has improved a lot over the years as well."
On Evans, now a coach at United, Tielemans said: "Jonny has always been a main character. He has always been trying to educate young players and he welcomed me at Leicester, and now here. It is a bit weird to see him as staff member, to be honest, but no, it is going great. He knows me, he knows what I need and what I can bring to the team, so it helps me as well."
Since the double signing, talk of further midfield additions has quietened. While United remain open to signing a third midfielder, they are relaxed about the situation now Tielemans and Santos are in place.
