Aston Villa beat Premier League rivals to massive midfield signing after official announcement made
Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign Leicester midfielder Youri Tielemans after beating a number of Premier League rivals to his signature.
The Belgium international will officially join the club on July 1, after his Leicester contract expires, and is a major coup for a Villa side who will back in Europe next season.
Following Leicester’s relegation from the Premier League, Arsenal, Manchester United and Roma were also rumoured to be interested in Tielemans.
However, the Belgian is expected to be Unai Emery’s first signing of the summer at Villa Park instead.
Tielemans joined the Foxes in 2019 and helped them win the FA Cup in 2021.
He scored the only goal in Leicester’s 1-0 victory against Chelsea in the final, one of 28 he notched for the club in 195 appearances in all competitions.
Tielemans joined Leicester initially on loan from Monaco in January 2019 and his move was made permanent in a then club-record £40m deal in July of that year.
He has also played at two World Cups, in 2018 and 2022, as well as Euro 2020.
The box-to-box midfielder joins a Villa side who finished seventh in the league after an outstanding run under Emery during the second half of the campaign.
Aston Villa is delighted to announce that the club has reached an agreement to sign Youri Tielemans.
— Aston Villa (@AVFCOfficial) June 10, 2023
Back in May, he paid tribute to Leicester fans with a farewell video message on Instagram, saying he would be “forever grateful” for their support.
He is one of seven players leaving Leicester at the end of their contracts after relegation, along with Caglar Soyuncu, Daniel Amartey, Nampalys Mendy, Ryan Bertrand, Ayoze Perez and Tete.
