Man Utd Complete Santos Deal, Close In On Tielemans

Manchester United have completed the £48m signing of Andrey Santos from Chelsea and are in advanced talks to sign Aston Villa's Youri Tielemans, as Michael Carrick's rebuild of his midfield moves from agreement to paperwork. The Brazil international has passed his medical and signed a deal to June 2031, with an option for a further year, closing off a transfer that had been agreed in principle the previous week. The news arrives with a catch attached. United's separate plan to sign Ederson from Atalanta for £35m has been scrapped for now, after a medical flagged an injury-related concern the club were not prepared to overlook.

Why midfield became the summer's first job

To understand why United have moved twice for central midfielders before doing much else, look at what Carrick inherited. Casemiro's departure took the last senior authority out of the base of the team, and Manuel Ugarte's knee injury removed the player most likely to replace him, leaving Kobbie Mainoo as the only experienced orthodox midfielder in the building. A club in that position does not have the luxury of picking favourites in the market. It was competing for the same handful of players as everyone else, and it did not always win. United lost out to Manchester City in their pursuit of Elliot Anderson, and watched Mateus Fernandes choose Tottenham over Old Trafford. Santos was the one that did not get away, and completing it now, medical done and contract signed, removes any lingering doubt that this summer would repeat those near-misses.

Santos signs, and gets straight to work

The structure of the deal is now a matter of record rather than reporting. United agreed a fee with Chelsea last week, and the 22-year-old has since completed his medical and put pen to paper on a deal running to 2031, with the option to extend for a further year, the kind of long-term commitment a club makes when it is buying a player rather than plugging a gap. Director of football Jason Wilcox did not hide how highly United rate him. "Andrey is an outstanding midfielder with excellent technical qualities and the ability to impact the game at both ends of the pitch," he said. "He was a key target for us in an important position." Wilcox added that Santos already carries "extensive experience, leadership abilities and proving his talent at the highest level", while still having "enormous potential to develop further".

Santos was part of the Chelsea squad that won the Club World Cup in 2025 and made 43 appearances for the club last season, so this is not a name arriving short of top-level minutes. At Old Trafford he plays under a manager who knows exactly what the position demands of a body and a mind, Michael Carrick himself a former England midfielder. Santos, who was not selected for Brazil's World Cup squad, has already started training with his new club, which means he could be involved when United's pre-season begins against Wrexham in Helsinki on 18 July. He was fluent in his own excitement about the move. "Everything about Manchester United is special," he said. "It is an incredible feeling to join a club that some of my biggest idols have represented. As a midfielder, I am really excited to have the opportunity to learn from Michael Carrick. He is the perfect coach to help me take the next step in my career and push to achieve my dreams." He added that he had been told "how ambitious the club is and the amazing environment that has been created here", and that he could not wait "to fight together to compete for the biggest trophies".

Tielemans next, with a release clause doing the heavy lifting

Confidence is growing that a second midfield deal can also be completed, this time for Youri Tielemans. The 29-year-old has been on United's radar for a considerable time, and the mechanics of a move look more straightforward than the Santos deal did. Tielemans' contract at Aston Villa is understood to contain a release clause, which simplifies the negotiation considerably, and United have been told a deal is close. Adding a player of Tielemans' experience alongside a 22-year-old learning the league would give Carrick a pairing that covers both ends of a rebuild: one midfielder bought for the next decade, one bought to help win matches immediately. Tielemans was a key figure in Belgium's run to the World Cup quarter-finals this summer, only to be forced off in the warm-up before their 2-1 defeat by Spain through injury, a reminder that fitness will be the first thing United's medical staff scrutinise once terms are close. If United do get the deal over the line, it would settle a fanbase that had grown agitated watching the club labour over what it already knew was its priority position.

Why Ederson fell away

Set against two pieces of good news is one that did not arrive. Speculation that the Ederson transfer had stalled had been building over the weekend, after initial reports the previous week suggested a knee injury concern. The 27-year-old underwent a full medical after tests in the United States flagged an area of concern, then flew to England for further examination in the wake of Brazil's last-16 World Cup exit to Norway. Specialists were brought in, and the outcome led United to back out of the deal as it stood. The framing from the club is worth taking at face value rather than reading as posturing. BBC Sport reported that the move could be resurrected later in the summer depending on how the rest of the window develops, though United would not sanction it at the previously agreed terms, and it has been stressed that the decision to sign Santos was not triggered by the issues with Ederson. Club officials say they remain sympathetic to the player, but a club rebuilding a specific part of its squad cannot let sympathy override a medical red flag.

Verdict: a rebuild with a sense of its own priorities

What separates this window from United's recent history is not the size of the outlay but the order of operations. A club that has spent successive summers buying reactively is instead working through a list it clearly wrote down in advance: solve central midfield first, be patient on fitness where a deal demands it, and do not let a setback with one target derail the plan for another. Santos gives Carrick a midfielder built for the next several years. Tielemans, if the release clause does its job, gives him one built for the next several months. Ederson's collapse is a mild dent in the plan rather than a crack in it, and the fact United were willing to walk away from a player with an unresolved injury says more about the discipline of this rebuild than a completed deal ever could.

Sources: BBC Sport.