{"id":217759,"date":"2025-06-27T05:06:17","date_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:06:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/217759\/"},"modified":"2025-06-27T05:06:17","modified_gmt":"2025-06-27T05:06:17","slug":"former-man-utd-defender-set-for-swift-premier-league-return-he-could-play-at-old-trafford-in-august","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/217759\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Man Utd defender set for swift Premier League return, he could play at Old Trafford in August"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Manchester United look set to meet Axel Tuanzebe in the Premier League again as he prepares to leave Ipswich Town.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/manchester-united-2025-26-premier-league-fixture-list-confirmed-ruben-amorim-faces-baptism-of-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Manchester United\u2019s Premier League fixture list<\/a> emerged last week as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/ruben-amorim\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Ruben Amorim<\/a> prepares for his first full campaign.<\/p>\n<p>The season starts with a mouthwatering home clash against Arsenal, before the Red Devils hit the road to take on Fulham.<\/p>\n<p>Scott Parker\u2019s Burnley side visit Old Trafford in the third game of the season, and this game will see Hannibal make his return to face United.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/hannibal-mejbri-man-utd-exit-transfer-fee-add-ons-sell-on-clause-and-buy-back-details\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United sold Hannibal to Burnley<\/a> last year, and the Tunisian midfielder is primed to feature for the Clarets.<\/p>\n<p>Hannibal could be joined by another former United talent, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/tag\/axel-tuanzebe\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Axel Tuanzebe<\/a> nearing a move to Turf Moor.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" loading=\"lazy\"  src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/GettyImages-2202905165-1-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"Ipswich Town defender Axel Tuanzebe warms up against Nottingham Forest.\" class=\"wp-image-280651\" \/>Photo by MI News\/NurPhoto via Getty Images<strong>Former Manchester United defender Axel Tuanzebe set for Premier League return<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tuanzebe emerged in the United youth ranks, having moved with his family from the Democratic Republic of Congo.<\/p>\n<p>The defender showed promise in United\u2019s first team, but loan spells with Napoli and Stoke City hampered his development.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/news\/manchester-united-announce-seven-players-officially-released-including-axel-tuanzebe-and-academy-striker-with-19-goals-in-40-games\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">United released Tuanzebe<\/a> in 2023, paving the way for a move to Ipswich Town.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.unitedinfocus.com\/transfer-news\/former-united-defender-finds-new-club-links-up-with-former-coach\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Tuanzebe reunited with former United coach Kieran McKenna<\/a> and played a key role in securing promotion to the Premier League.<\/p>\n<p>Tuanzebe featured in the top flight last season and impressed against United in Amorim\u2019s first game in the job.<\/p>\n<p>The 27-year-old is out of contract this summer and is now ready to leave relegated Ipswich for another Premier League chance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/6453346\/2025\/06\/26\/axel-tuanzebe-burnley-free-transfer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">The Athletic<\/a> report that Tuanzebe is undergoing a medical with Burnley ahead of joining the Clarets.<\/p>\n<p>Tuanzebe has an offer on the table from Ipswich, but he will snub an extended stay in order to join Burnley.<\/p>\n<p>Injuries have continued to haunt Tuanzebe over the years, and he will hope to avoid any problems as he prepares to finalise his move to Lancashire.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Trabzonspor backed away from Tuanzebe<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Tuanzebe will be delighted to have another Premier League opportunity, having been in and out of the Ipswich side.<\/p>\n<p>A move to Turkiye appeared to be in the pipeline, though, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.61saat.com\/trabzonsporu-imzadan-vazgeciren-detay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">61Saat<\/a> suggested Trabzonspor backed away from a deal.<\/p>\n<p>Tuanzebe was expected to join Trabzonspor, but they scrapped the move earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Fitness concerns and question marks over Tuanzebe\u2019s desire to complete the deal meant Trabzonspor moved on.<\/p>\n<p>Burnley are now swooping in, with their deal handing Tuanzebe the chance to play against United early in the new season.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Manchester United look set to meet Axel Tuanzebe in the Premier League again as he prepares to leave&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":217760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4100],"tags":[86265,94,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-217759","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-axel-tuanzebe","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114753594320092576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}