Axel’s drive takes him back to Villa on loan

UNITED’S Axel Tuanzebe has returned to Aston Villa on a season-long loan.

The 20-year-old defender joined Villa on a six-month deal in January but injuries restricted him to just five appearances as Steve Bruce’s side lost the Championship play-off final to Fulham.

John Terry was among the players to leave cashstrapped Villa earlier in the summer, but Bruce has now arranged for Tuanzebe to return.

Rochdale-raised Tuanzebe started three of United’s pre-season tour matches in the United States and has appeared eight times under Jose Mourinho, but lined up just once last season.

The England youth international was a substitute for the Reds’ friendly against Bayern Munich in Germany on Sunday night.

United are trying to sign a centre-half before Thursday’s transfer deadline and Marcos Rojo is on standby to be sold in the event executive vicechairman Ed Woodward secures a defensive signing.

The Reds’ preferred option is still Tottenham’s Toby Alderweireld and Bayern Munich’s Jerome Boateng is a fall-back. United are still in dialogue with Spurs over Alderweireld and it is common practice for them to work on deals for two players with the intention of only signing one.

They opted for Romelu Lukaku over Alvaro Morata last year, Blaise Matuidi was a fall-back option for Paul Pogba and United chose Victor Lindelof over Michael Keane.