Hungry Hippo, injury concerns and Jose Mourinho’s praise: Inside track on Burnley’s new recruit Axel Tuanzebe

A busy week of transfer activity at Gawthorpe continued on Thursday night with the arrival of defender Axel Tuanzebe from Ipswich Town.

The 27-year-old arrives at Turf Moor on a free transfer, penning an initial one-year deal after turning down the offer of a new contract with the Tractor Boys.

But what do we know about the defender? Here, we take a closer look:

Injury concerns

Coming through the ranks at Manchester United, there’s not much doubt about Tuanzebe’s ability as a player. Jose Mourinho of all people once said about him: “10 minutes is enough to see his potential”.

But can he be relied upon to play regularly? In his nine seasons as a professional player, he’s made 136 appearances in all competitions for both club and country – giving him an average of 15 games per season.

His regularity of game time has improved at Ipswich, making 45 appearances across his two seasons at Portman Road.

Prior to that, he was only able to make a combined eight starts across the previous two seasons during loan spells at Aston Villa, Napoli and Stoke City.

Expert view

We spoke to Stuart Watson, Ipswich Town reporter for the East Anglian Daily Times, to get an insight into what Burnley can expect.

“Centre-back is his favoured role, but he played the majority of his football at Ipswich as a tucked in right-back,” he explained.

“His strengths are leadership, reading of danger and elite athleticism. His weakness, you have to say, has been injuries.

“The only reason Ipswich were able to sign a player who once pocketed Kylian Mbappe as a free agent in the Championship is because a long-running back issue had severely limited his game over a prolonged period.

“Ipswich did manage to build up his robustness only for him to suffer a freak domestic accident last October, almost losing his thumb when breaking glass doing the washing up.

“He rushed back to action, a show of character, but subsequently had two hamstring set-backs in what was an impressive, yet stop-start season.

“He played a key role in Ipswich's Championship promotion and looked very much back at home in the Premier League, despite the team's struggles. Keep him fit and you've got a very good player on your hands.”

Hungry Hippos

In 2018, then a Manchester United player, Tuanzebe hit the headlines - although it had nothing to do with his displays on the pitch.

Instead, the defender boasted a secret talent by breaking a world record for the fastest clearing of a Hungry Hungry Hippos board.

He finished the game in just 17.36 seconds, setting a brand new Guinness World Record.

Tuanzebe broke the record while taking on former teammate Ro-Shaun Williams while enjoying some downtime during a pre-season tour.

Freak incident

When Tuanzebe mysteriously missed Ipswich’s game against West Ham back in October, no-one could have guessed the reason behind it.

No, it wasn’t a recurrence of an injury, the defender almost lost his thumb in a freak washing up accident at home.

“It was just a domestic accident, that’s exactly what it was," he told the East Anglian Daily Times. "Unfortunately that’s something that’s been highlighted throughout my season this year.

“It’s something that I just want to put behind me and move forward and focus on football.

“It’s cost me a few games this season and I want to make up for it.”

Asked how his hand and thumb are now, Tuanzebe added: “It’s okay now – thanks to a good doctor. He’s done a miraculous job - thanks to him I still have my thumb.

“It wasn’t a minor issue, it was quite serious. But it’s been dealt with, the club have been very supportive throughout that period, the medical staff in particular. I’m just grateful I still have my thumb intact.”

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