Expect Erik ten Hag to ring the changes during Manchester United’s Europa League opener with Real Sociedad on Thursday night. Perhaps a full debut for Casemiro, a chance for Cristiano Ronaldo, an opportunity for Martin Dubravka to state his claim.
Maybe Zidane Iqbal will get a run out at Old Trafford too following a sparkling pre-season.
But while Axel Tuanzebe has been included in Man United’s official Europa League squad, a first appearance under Ten Hag for the former England U21 international feels, to put it simply, very unlikely.
What next for Old Trafford misfit Axel Tuanzebe?
According to BBC Sport reporter Simon Stone, Tuanzebe is one of a number of players training away from Ten Hag’s first-team squad at present. There is, Stone adds, ‘no change regarding the dressing room access’ for Tuanzebe, Phil Jones or Brandon Williams.
In just over two months’ time, United’s 2015 Young Player of the Year will celebrate his 25th birthday. If any player needs a clean break and a fresh start, it’s him. A short-term return to Aston Villa did not go as planned during the first half of last term. And, after his proposed season-long spell at Villa Park was cut short in January, Tuanzebe jetted out to Italy before mustering a grand total of 10 Serie A minutes in the baby blue of Napoli.
To think, twice in the last year or so, Tuanzebe has been offered the opportunity to join an upwardly-mobile, ambitious Newcastle United side with a coach in Eddie Howe who relishes in getting his claws into talented young players.
Newcastle United missed out on Tuanzebe… twice
Per The Chronicle, Newcastle were in ‘pole position’ to sign Tuanzebe during the summer of 2021. The centre-half was reportedly ‘delighted’ by the club’s interest. He even played under then-Magpies boss Steve Bruce at Villa. It came as something of a surprise, then, when he rebuffed their advances.
Some five months down the line, Newcastle came calling again before Tuanzebe chose Napoli instead. A decision that aged about as gracefully as Paris Hilton’s film career; wasting away on the Partenopei bench while Newcastle soared up the table under Howe’s superb management.
Now, with Newcastle moving onto bigger and better things – £35 million summer arrival Sven Botman, for instance – it seems unlikely this opportunity will come round a third time.
Tuanzebe is still young, talented and hungry enough to make up for lost time. You don’t catch the eye of clubs like Napoli and Manchester United without possessing a little something. But, after a year wasted, you could hardly blame Tuanzebe for wondering how differently things might have turned out had he accepted Newcastle’s offer.
Or should that be ‘offers‘?
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