The Athletic: Midfielder agrees deal with Aston Villa – why he rejected Milan

By Isak Möller -

Youri Tielemans was one of AC Milan’s top targets but according to a recent report, he has agreed to sign a contract with Aston Villa. The Rossoneri will thus have to turn their attention elsewhere. 

Since the sacking of Paolo Maldini and Ricky Masssara on Tuesday, Geoffrey Moncada and Giorgio Firlani had both been working on the signing of Tielemans, per Gazzetta Dello Sport. However, they will have to turn to their Plan B instead.

According to The Athletic, Tielemans has agreed to join Aston Villa on a free transfer and is undergoing his medical for the club as we speak. The 26-year-old had suitors all over Europa and Aston Villa had to overcome fierce competition, per the report.

It’s a convenient move for Tielemans as Aston Villa are another Midlands club, meaning he probably won’t have to move. In addition, Villa will be playing in the Conference League next season and have been able to offer a good salary (probably much higher than Milan).

Update: Aston Villa have also confirmed the deal.

It remains to be seen what Moncada’s Plan B is. Seko Fofana has been mentioned before but he was a target of Maldini and Massara. In short, we will have to wait and see what Milan will do in the coming days.

Tags AC Milan Aston Villa Youri Tielemans

57 Comments

  1. Seko Fofana would be an incredible recruit, sadly Lens is playing UCL next season and is not willing to sell his best players unless a huge offer arrives. Probably even much bigger than Milinkovic-Savic’s price tag.

    1. Does anyone see a resemblance here of the previous management in trying signing top players and losing them to Clubs that win trophies?

      Please don’t tell me that this is the big strategy plan of Cardinale

  2. LOL. Shocking!!!

    I mean he is FREE and so many other clubs wanted him and offered him a much higher salary then we didn’t- so why wouldn’t he want to come to Milan???? I just don’t understand LOLOLOLOLO.

    I mean a call from Furlani couldn’t convince the kid to take LESS money?? Wow. This is a surprise!!! LMAO

    NEXT sheep!

    1. ‘Understand Unai Emery called Youri in the last few days to accelerate talks’ – Romano

      Okay, it’s time for us to get serious. It’s time get Pioli on the other line of the phone. Everyone knows he’s the best in the world in terms of developing young talents and also is able to act as a father figure when needed.

      1. Yes, who can resist call from padre Pioli. Or Furlani or Moncanda!?!
        Ohhhh yes forgot the salary proposal was very convincing maybe 1/3 of those proposed from Aston Villa

  3. Lmao why, cause they probably offered him 2x money that cardinale offered him, its hard to be in maldini’s place with owner like cardi,moncada will soon realize that ,free agents always want more money because you pay nothing for transfer

  4. In my view no defensive midfielder better than Sofyan Amrabat but we will continue to look for cheap and free options. God sves our Milan

  5. I really think that we should prepare for a really disapointing transfer window(yet again). Firstly, we do not have a budget nearly big enough to fix the holes for the first eleven(righ wing, foward, midfield) and plus squad rotating players for the bench(at least 3 quality players,NOT youngsters with potential)
    Secondly, it seems that Cardinale does not want to invest any more money for club to buy players, they said that we need to sell players that Pioli doesnt count on. Great. Rebic max 6mil(if we are lucky), Origi also, messias as well… So after all that we are looking at the budget around 60mil. Still, very small amount to build a competitive squad for both Seria A and CL.
    Unfortunatly, another season fighting for 4th spot.

    1. Lucky I don’t really care about transfers….

      My only hope is that we don’t lose too many players who I was supporting last season.

      It’s really annoying having to go from cheering to booing players constantly.

      Inter have four of our former players!

    2. PS Do you think your 3 quality players on the bench will make much of a difference if Pioli rests the entire starting 11 against Serie A teams???

  6. How dare you to reject 2 m per year from Cardinale 😂 He searched for you and your demands through his revolutional data analyzing and his data said you will accept it 99,99 % ! This must be a bug in data analyzing!!

  7. Seko Fofana would be an awesome recruit, sadly Lens is UCL-bound next season and they said they are not selling their best players unless huge offers are on the table. He would be even more expensive than Milinkovic-Savic and they’re the same age. Maybe Frattesi could be an option.

    I wonder if Mateo Retegui is still considered as a forward, I couldn’t find any news regarding him lately.

    1. Why Seko Fofana? The guy who used to play for Udinese and could find a better move than to France? He hasn’t played a minute of Europea football. RLC would be a better option..

      1. Do you watch Ligue 1? He was a key player for Lens and they finished 2nd, only one point from PSG. Anyway he’s way too expensive for us.

        1. Eh, I’m not impressed. And no, I don’t watch Ligue 1. There are four leagues with better football to watch.

          1. Damn I was trying to impress you so much. I’ll try to find sleep tonight though.

            I don’t care if you watch Ligue 1, I’m not their PR, but a lot of great players came from this league, including key players from our team.

          2. That’s fine, and you’re right, but with Fofana specifically, the fact that he was already in Serie A and technically was only able to make a lateral move from Udinese to Lens raises red flag, the fact they finished 2nd notwithstanding.

  8. This type of news will be familiar from now till the end of the transfer window for us Milan Fans.
    1. Tielemans = Aston Villa
    2. Ndicka = Likely to join Roma
    3. Kamada = Milan is stalling
    4. RLC = ? as he is not free.
    5. Similar to last season we have been linked t o several players in different positions, yet nothing concrete.

    1. Calm down. Relegation teams in the EPL can offer salaries comparable with the top of Serie A. “We” didn’t do anything. The market decided that the EPL would get the TV money and that was that.

  9. Why would he join a club that is chaotic after maldini’s sacking send shock waves throughout the world of football. Unless crazy money is thrown at him or others, this would be tough until the waters calm down. Shitbird didn’t think from that point of view did he.

  10. From Leicester to Birmingham is a fairly short drive – he doesn’t even have to move house. Tielemans has kids. His life will continue without major disruption, and with a higher salary than Milan were offering him. Why the hell would he uproot his whole family and move to a new country for less money???

    1. Ya but Redbird lovers on here honestly believed we would be able to sign him and all the other free players LOL. Money talks and we have none that Redbird wish to spend. No matter who is sporting director we are in the same hole. At least w Maldini we had more clout when he called a player and tried to convince him to join for LESS $$$ – and he did – convince Leao, Theo, Mike etc…now we have Pioli or Furlani making that call LOL. Good luck

        1. LOVE my life clown. Buddy you make no fkn sense lol. And nobody wants to see your ugly photo on your name “John the Baptist”. Keep on being that sheep kid it will get you far in life. good luck Johnny boy!

          1. Oh yeah… I lost interest when you said “nobody”

            Man, it’s you and I, leave the other kids out of our conversation.

            I’m trying not to bully you my boy, I’m really trying, you gotta help me, I don’t wanna pounce on you fragile kid.

      1. Oh yes I agree, Moneyball mate 😂😂😂

        It’s all about stats across the aggregate…those stats being free, or out of contract or on loan 😆

  11. Moneyball…..LoL

    If only cardinale had an ex club and world legend who is revered and respected worldwide to attract these top players….

      1. Banter era? We only sign rejects

        Pre-banter era? Real legends still play at our club and there is Berlusconi’s money.

  12. Tielemans was always going to chase the money, it’s why he was at Leicester in the first place – was never coming to Milan

  13. Yep…Villa is better than us…let’s wait till Ndicka signs for Roma..then it will start to sink in for all of us, especially redbird sympathisers.

    1. Calm down. Roma has been negotiating with Nd!cka for weeks. They are probably very close to an agreement. We have, JUST NOW, supposedly begun to talk to him. What do you expect? For Nd!cka and his entourage to drop everything because Furlani is calling at the last minute?

  14. Maldini already know it..that why he never target tieleman..maldini is 2 step ahead of everyone..new management coming then suddenly they target new player but are they really coming? Maybe kamada will coming, only bcoz maldini already got verbal agreement bfore he got fired

      1. Being supportive of the new management is one thing. Being disrespectful, ungrateful and blind about what Maldini did is simply stupid. Milan’s resurgence has a lot to do with him.

        I didn’t know who tf Michael Edwards is, so I searched on google and there was a petition for him to be fired. I guess there are ungrateful fans everywhere.

      2. Maldini was the sage, the genius, who could do know wrong as a director apparently because he was a legendary defender. So let’s just shut up and support the whining.

  15. “but he was a target of Maldini & Massara”

    So what if Fofana was Maldini’s target? Does being Maldini’s target is disqualifying? Ridiculous statement from the article. If he is Maldini’s target who play in France, it’s highly likely he is Moncada’s recommendation.

    1. The article is saying that Fofana was a target of Maldini and Massara who are no longer around so Seko is probably no longer a target

  16. However, if he prefers Aston Villa over Milan, playing in conference league over champions league and of course money, than that says everything about his ambitions.
    We need players who want to be at Milan and has winners mentality!

    Forza Milan!

  17. With maldini or without maldini the main, old fashioned way or data basis mercato, the problem is the same…..money, i am a fans from the era van basten until now and i can’t believe it that we are loose from aston villa in signing player competition, f***

  18. Most likely the management will conduct their business at the tail end of the summer with what’s available on the market. All current targets won’t be convinced by what’s on the table be it sporting or financial side.
    The lure of Maldini calling is immeasurable, that’s the value and tradition and so much more than pure business..

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