Ipswich Town: All you need to know about Axel Tuanzebe
Ipswich Town have made Axel Tuanzebe their sixth signing since returning to the Championship. Alex Jones takes a deep dive into the former Manchester United man’s career.
Tuanzebe made 37 appearances for Manchester United in all competitions (Image: PA Images)
The Manchester United days
Tuanzebe played in Manchester United’s academy from the age of eight and soon became one of the standout youngsters. In 2014, he captained their Milk Cup winning youth side before winning the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award less than a year later. Academy coach Paul McGuinness believed him to be the first first-year scholar to captain the club’s Under-18s since Gary Neville.
It was no surprise, therefore, to see Tuanzebe drafted into the first-team at a young age, making the bench for a Premier League game against Crystal Palace as a 17-year-old. To many, it was clear at that point that he had the potential to become to become a regular.
The 2016/17 campaign saw him make his senior debut, coming off the bench in a 4-0 win against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup. He signed a new contract a few days later and made his first Premier League start at the end of the season in a 2-0 defeat to Arsenal.
One of the main highlights of his time at Old Trafford came in September 2019 when he became the youngest player to captain the Red Devils since Norman Whiteside in 1985, wearing the armband for a victory against Rochdale in the EFL Cup.
The defender gave Kylian Mbappe a torrid time when Manchester United faced PSG (Image: PA Images)
That Champions League performance
Tuanzebe is best known to mainstream football fans for his incredible Champions League performance against Paris Saint-Germain back in October 2020.
He started on the right of a back three alongside Victor Lindelof and Luke Shaw that night and came up against the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar at the Parc des Princes.
The defender put in a blistering performance, outrunning Mbappe twice as United won 2-1 in the French capital. While it wasn’t enough for United to progress from Group H, Tuanzebe received significant praise for his performance.
as ‘unbelievable’ in the game, adding that it showed he was ‘capable of playing in big games’. Manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer described him as ‘a tremendous defender and a great leader’, claiming that he would be a ‘top player’ for his side.It can’t be forgotten that this was his first start in 10 months, having struggled with significant injury issues throughout the 2019/20 campaign.
Tuanzebe had three separate loan spells at Aston Villa (Image: PA Images)
Championship loans
Tuanzebe’s first spell away from Old Trafford saw him join Aston Villa on a six-month loan in January 2018, but an ankle injury curtailed his time in the West Midlands after just five games.
He returned to the Midlands club in the summer, after spending pre-season with Man United, playing 25 games for Villa as they won promotion back to the Premier League. He also started in the 2019 Championship Play-Off Final, playing alongside Tyrone Mings.
He returned to the second tier in January 2023, signing for Stoke City on loan, but his time at the Bet365 Stadium was tarnished by injury once again, playing just five games as the Potters finished 16th.
The disappointing stint at Stoke ultimately spelled the end of his time at Man United, who released him at the of last season.
Luciano Spalletti was reluctant to play Tuanzebe during his time in Italy (Image: PA Images)
A short spell in the Neapolitan sun
Sandwiched in between his time at Aston Villa and Stoke came a somewhat bizarre spell in southern Italy. Tuanzebe joined Napoli in January 2022 after struggling for game time at Villa Park, which his agent claimed was due to manager Steven Gerrard’s affiliation with Liverpool. However, he only ever played one Serie A game.
His lone league appearance came off the bench in a 1-0 home win against Sampdoria on January 9. He then played 120 minutes against Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia four days later, Napoli beaten 5-2 in extra-time at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Tuanzebe was an unused substitute for the next two league games against Bologna and Salernitana before missing six matches with a back injury. He returned to the squad in March, but couldn’t fight his way back into the starting lineup before returning to England.
Manager Luciano Spalletti suggested that it would take time for Tuanzebe to adjust to top-flight Italian football, but he was never afforded it. Asked about his decision to leave the loanee out of his Europa League squad, he said: “I explain it badly, but then you have to explain to me the exclusion of another to insert him. The moment you would never want to be a coach is when you call a player in the office to tell him why he doesn’t do the tournament.”
He added: “It’s still a shame for Axel. We’re getting to know each other, now he has to take care of his back but he immediately joined the group, he already knows how to speak a little Italian, in training he is very strong and also helps us with contrasts. We thank him.”
Jose Mourinho handed Tuanzebe his senior debut for Manchester United (Image: PA Images)
What people have said
Former Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho shared his views on Tuanzebe after a brief cameo in a friendly against Wigan Athletic in 2016, saying: “Ten minutes is enough! The potential is there, you see it immediately.”
Owen Hargreaves highlighted his incredible performance against PSG on BT Sport, saying: “Good luck getting this guy out of the team. I love him. He’s a good athlete, he makes good decisions, physically he’s got a good presence, he wasn’t fazed by Mbappe or Neymar. I think he grew into the occasion.
“We saw a couple of years ago, Scott McTominay came here and put in a top performance. This young man looks like he’s not getting out of the side.”
Perhaps the biggest praise came from Paul McGuinness, who recalled training sessions at Man United’s academy where Tuanzebe would race the length of the pitch with Marcus Rashford and Ro-Shaun Williams after training.
“He just needs a run of games, really,” McGuinness told The Independent. “With every team as he came up he always did the right thing. He stood out as being very mature. We would always push him. In his first year with the youth team, I made him captain because I just felt that he would be a captain ultimately and he may as well get the practice now.
“He was always going to be a leader at every point in his career so it was always our thinking that we would build that up to be a bigger asset. That was a real strength, there was always a sense that he would do the right thing and be a great example. You saw that off the pitch but on it, you could see it too. He was very quick, very athletic and a very good one-on-one defender.”
Rob Edwards revealed that Luton couldn’t agree terms with Tuanzebe after his trial period at Kenilworth Road (Image: PA Images)
Who’s been interested?
As a free agent, everybody under the sun seemed to be tracking Tuanzebe. He was regularly named on fans’ shortlists on social media, while clubs themselves have taken an interest in bringing him in now the transfer window is shut.
Sheffield United had previously looked into signing him, but opted to get former Town target Auston Trusty instead. As a result, he went on trial at fellow newly-promoted Premier League side Luton Town, but a deal never materialised.
Other Championship outfits were linked with a move for him, as were La Liga side Real Betis, who are in the Europa League.
Kieran McKenna knows the 25-year-old from his time at Old Trafford (Image: Ross Halls)
Why do Town want him?
Ipswich desperately need another centre-back. Luke Woolfenden and Cameron Burgess are the first-choice pairing, but there’s a real lack of depth in defence. George Edmundson hasn’t quite been the same since returning from injury and Elkan Baggott is still incredibly inexperienced despite his impressive performances in pre-season and in the Carabao Cup.
Tuanzebe would bring more pedigree than most of Town’s current squad, boasting European experience as well as a handful of games in the Premier League and the Championship. His versatility will appeal to Kieran McKenna, as he’s able to play at left-back and right-back as well. Like Brandon Williams, the only reason this deal is in any way feasible for the Blues is because of the manager’s history at Manchester United.
The biggest concern will be his injury record. For the majority of his spells at Napoli and Stoke he simply wasn’t fit. There’s a sense that this move falls in the ‘high risk, high reward’ category.
Tuanzebe will be able to bring a unique skill to Town’s dressing room (Image: PA Images)
A surprising world record
One final thing. If Town do sign Tuanzebe, they’ll be bringing in a Guinness World Record holder.
Back in 2018, Guinness World Records officials visited Man United’s pre-season training camp in Los Angeles, setting up a number of challenges for the players to try.
Tuanzebe cleared up the Hungry Hippos board, by himself, in 17.36 seconds – the fastest recorded time for anyone to achieve such a feat (it’s since been beaten).
For those unfamiliar, the game is made to be played with two to four players, with everyone controlling a plastic hippo. The aim is to get your hippo to swallow as many marbles as possible, with the winner being whoever gathers the most.
It remains to be seen whether or not anyone has challenged him to a game at Portman Road this week.
