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Former Man Utd star and current Premier League rival suing Old Trafford club for £1 million
Martin Macdonald
- 12 Nov 2025 05:30 CST
- 6 min read
News
A former Manchester United player is suing the club for £1 million.
Axel Tuanzebe, who currently plays for Burnley in the Premier League, is taking Man Utd to court over how they dealt with a spinal injury that means he can no longer play "without restriction or impediment" at the top level.
The DR Congo international is a graduate of the academy at Old Trafford and was with the club at just eight years old. He rose through the ranks to eventually make his first-team debut in January of 2017, replacing Timothy Fosu-Mensah during a 4–0 FA Cup victory over Wigan.
He subsequently joined Aston Villa on loan three times in a row before two further loans at Napoli and Stoke.
Tuanzebe left Man Utd permanently for Ipswich before joining newly-promoted Burnley in the summer of 2025 on a free transfer.
The player and his current representatives are accusing the club of not treating an injury "promptly" and "appropriately" which has allegedly left him with lasting damage.
The injury in question is a stress fracture at the bottom of the spine. It occurred in January of 2020 and became chronic in 2022.
The lawsuit says: "Appropriate treatment plans would, on the balance of probabilities, have resulted in the claimant avoiding the pain and discomfort set out below and would have resulted in him being able to play professional football at elite level without restriction or impediment.
"As it is, although he continues to play at an elite level, this has impacted his career and earnings."
Tuanzebe "expects to recover damages in excess of £1,000,000".
Injury details
The origins of the injury can be tracked back to an MRI scan on a hamstring injury in 2019 in which a suspected pars fracture was detected. Athletes are believed to be prone to such problems.
The lawsuit reads further:
"It is the claimant's case that the defendant [United] negligently failed to properly investigate the claimant's pars fractures, failed to rest the claimant and failed to refer him to a specialist sports spinal surgeon.
"As a result, the claimant's symptoms significantly progressed to bilateral grade 4 fractures, and he developed a left-sided chronic spinal fracture.
"Had the claimant been appropriately rested, his left-sided pars fracture would not have developed into a chronic condition and the right-sided fracture would have been avoided altogether."
The fractures, which developed fully by July of 2022, caused Tuanzebe "significant pain and discomfort since their development and deterioration."
The lawsuit goes on to detail that Tuanzebe should have been referred to a specialist that would have advised 12 weeks of rest following treatment in January of 2022 but he was back playing in March of 2022.
"By allowing the claimant to train and play as normal from February to March 2020 and thereafter, he suffered more serious symptoms than he would have if he had been diagnosed promptly and treated appropriately with rest," the lawsuit statement adds.
The defender reported further issues while on loan at Napoli but Dr Steve McNally, United senior club doctor and head of sports medicine and science, who is no longer with the club, is alleged to have "indicated no urgency" for Tuanzebe to return to Manchester for treatment, according to Sky.
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