‘It Just Feels Like Football’: Tielemans Says Settling in at United Has Been Effortless

Youri Tielemans says adapting to Michael Carrick’s approach at Manchester United has felt completely natural for the seasoned £35m midfielder, describing the process as simply “sensing the game”.

The 29-year-old moved from Aston Villa last month, having made his senior Anderlecht debut at just 16. Over the past 10 days, he has been settling into the United squad during their pre-season tour and featured for the first time in Saturday’s 1-1 draw against Paris Saint-Germain in Gothenburg.

After leaving Belgium to join Monaco in 2017, Tielemans moved to Leicester two years later and signed for Villa in 2023. With 579 senior appearances behind him, he is not unsettled by Carrick’s tactical expectations.

Tielemans said: “He has a clear structure. He wants us to control possession and press in specific ways. It may differ from systems I have played in previously, but the ideas make sense to me. It is about reading the game, something I have done since I was a youngster at Anderlecht.

“For me, the fundamentals remain the same, although the team still needs time to develop an understanding. Once we apply those principles, we can express our attacking ability, particularly in the final third where there is more freedom. At the same time, we must avoid committing too many players forward and maintain our defensive shape. If we do that, I believe we can achieve positive results.”

Injuries restricted Tielemans to 25 league starts last season, while a hamstring issue suffered during the warm-up ruled him out of Belgium’s World Cup quarter-final against Spain in July. Despite those setbacks and 13 years of playing in midfield, he does not believe Carrick will regularly need to give him time off.

He said: “Not particularly. At the World Cup, we played 120 minutes against Senegal before facing Spain, and the recovery periods between matches became shorter. We then played the United States around five days later, followed by Spain three days after that. During the warm-up, my body suddenly stopped responding properly. I do not consider myself someone who must be rested. There are obviously many fixtures and the manager has to manage the squad, but when I feel fit, I am ready to play.

“If something is wrong physically, I usually recognise it immediately and tell the manager. Fortunately, that does not happen very often.”

United had considered signing the Belgium captain on two earlier occasions, reportedly in 2019 and 2022. “I spoke with the club twice, but neither conversation led to a move, so I remained relaxed about it. Both approaches came long after my time at Anderlecht,” Tielemans said.

United activated Tielemans’s release clause and apparently faced no rival bids for his signature. “Not as far as I know,” he said.