Report: Mourinho could keep Aston Villa loanee Tuanzebe next season

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Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho reportedly plans to assess Aston Villa loanee Axel Tuanzebe during pre-season.

A recent report from The Sun suggested that Aston Villa were likely to bring Axel Tuanzebe back on loan again next season with Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho keen for the 20-year-old to continue working with Steve Bruce.

The youngster has only made a handful of appearances for the Villans, but has made a fairly bright start to life in the Championship, and The Sun suggested that he was likely to stay regardless of which division the promotion-chasers found themselves in next term.

However, ESPN’s latest report on Tuanzebe’s immediate future just provides a hint that Villa may not be getting the defender back next year after all.

According to ESPN, Mourinho plans to include the academy graduate in his squad for their pre-season tour of the United States and will look to assess whether the starlet could actually have a role to play in United’s first-team as early as next term.

Tuanzebe has not been able to make a major impact for Villa as of yet, but that is fairly understandable given the amount of pressure on each of their results with the automatic-promotion spots within reach until recently and a play-off campaign on the horizon.

But given his potential, Bruce may well feel that keeping him around would probably be a boost for the side, especially as he has not quite been able to settle on two full-backs throughout the campaign. However, it appears that the Villa boss may have to bide his time before a decision is made on whether he will be available again next season with Mourinho keen to have a closer look.