Tielemans rubbishes Rashford accusation after his return to Man Utd – ‘surprised me most’ | OneFootball

Youri Tielemans has hit back at critics of Manchester United star Marcus Rashford and revealed what has “surprised” him the “most” about the forward.

Tielemans has reunited with Rashford at Man Utd after they worked together at Aston Villa following the forward’s loan move to the Premier League side.

This summer, Tielemans has joined Man Utd from Villa for around £35m, while Rashford has returned to Old Trafford after a successful loan spell at FC Barcelona.

Rashford has more than his fair share of critics, but Tielemans has leapt to his defence while speaking with Rio Ferdinand on the Man Utd legend’s YouTube channel.

In response to suggestions that Rashford has attitude issues, Tielemans has explained that he was “surprised most” by the forward’s “commitment”.

“He’s got amazing qualities. And I mean, his touch, his acceleration, his finishing, you know, his qualities on the ball,” Tielemans told the Man Utd legend on the Rio Ferdinand Presents YouTube channel.

“But then I think what surprised me most with him was his commitment. You know, there was such a big thing made out of him that he wasn’t committed or wasn’t in it for the right reasons or whatever.

“And you see the player coming in and it’s completely opposite from what you hear. He was committed. He was doing the work. He was positive with everyone. You know, he was just a normal guy, you know.

“And then he brings his qualities to the team and he just plays. And you can see in that PSG double leg how good he was and how he added at the time to the team. And yeah, we nearly got over the line against PSG and then won it. So, yeah, we were very happy with him.”

Youri Tielemans reveals how Marcus Rashford can thrive at Manchester United

Then, Ferdinand asked what Rashford needs from Tielemans and Man Utd’s other players to thrive this season.

To which Tielemans responded: “I think he needs us. That’s it. I think he just needs support behind him. And he would always create something.

“So it’s something that, as a player, you want in your team. You want that type of player in your team that can create at any moment.

“He can dribble past one, two, three players and then lay off for someone that can score. So to have him fit and ready to go with us would be great.”

Tielemans also shed light on his ambitions for Man Utd this season, claiming that they “want to win”.

Tielemans admitted: “Well, obviously my hope is like any footballer, we want to win, but it’s a process,” Tielemans admitted.

“We have some new players like myself, we have the group that did very well towards the back end of last season and achieved to get the Champions League.

“And I think that was a big step in a positive way.

“But now we got to do it again and starting in 10 days against Hull City, it’s the first game and we got to take it step by step, being consistent throughout the season and hopefully towards March time, we can hopefully be up there and fight for something, but it’s going to take time, ups and downs, like in every season, but we got to try and keep it as smooth as possible and hopefully be there.”