Youri Tielemans Excited for Reunion with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United
Youri Tielemans is relishing his reunion with Marcus Rashford at Manchester United – and he is convinced the forward can still reshape the story of his Old Trafford career if he is trusted with a real chance.
Rashford has been brought back into the first-team picture at his boyhood club this week, returning to training after 18 months in exile. Loan spells and a public fallout with former United manager Ruben Amorim left him on the outside looking in, his long-term future clouded in doubt.
Barcelona were handed the option to keep him permanently for £26 million after last season’s loan. They passed. Before that, Rashford had already taken a detour that surprised many: a move to Aston Villa in the second half of the 2024-25 season, where he linked up with Tielemans.
At the time, Rashford’s name rarely left the headlines – and not for his football. The dispute with Amorim had turned into a saga. Every appearance, every mistake, every gesture was picked apart.
Under that glare, he still delivered.
Rashford helped Villa reach the Champions League quarter-finals, where they finally bowed out to eventual winners PSG. Inside that run, Tielemans saw a different side to the forward from the one being dissected on television panels and social media.
“He was great,” Tielemans said. “There had been so much talk about him and bringing pressure and the media around him, but I thought he was just so good. He was very humble, he was just hard working, and from the first training you could tell his touch, his acceleration was just amazing.
“That was just what we needed at the time at Villa as well, so he did many good things in that time and hopefully he can bring them here.”
The Belgian has walked into a United dressing room that already feels familiar. Rashford is not the only old ally. Tielemans also knows Harry Maguire and first-team coach Jonny Evans from their days together at Leicester City.
“I played with Harry for just a bit less than six months and it was great at the time,” he said. “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 Jonny, 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.”
For Tielemans, finally pulling on a United shirt feels like the closing of a long-running subplot. This is not the first time his name has been linked with Old Trafford. It is the third.
“It is a great achievement for any player to end up here,” he said. “There has been two times that I spoke with the club, but it did not achieve to anything.
“When a move comes up, then if it needs to happen, it will happen. At the times that I have been linked with the club before, it did not happen, but it is what it is.”
Now he is in the building. Rashford is back on the grass. Maguire and Evans are alongside him again. For Tielemans, the pieces are finally in place. The question is whether this United side can turn those reunions into something far more significant when the season starts to bite.
