Town defender Axel Tuanzebe is undergoing a medical at newly promoted Premier League Burnley.

The right-sided centre-half or right-back is out of contract this summer and, as first reported by The Athletic, is set to join the Clarets as a free agent.

The 27-year-old was offered new lucrative terms by the Blues but ultimately wanted to remain in the Premier League.

The DR Congo international joins fellow free agent Cameron Burgess in leaving the club having turned down a new deal, the Australian international defender having signed for Championship Swansea City earlier this month.

Turkish reports yesterday claimed Trabzonspor had pulled out of a move for Tuanzebe due to concerns regarding his fitness giving fans hope that the former Manchester United man might stay at Portman Road. However, those hopes have now been dashed

The defender, who grew up in the North West, has been a key player over the past two seasons, despite injury sidelining him for a fair chunk of 2024/25.

Tuanzebe made 20 Premier League starts and two sub appearances for the Blues having suffered a freak hand injury and hamstring issues over the course of the campaign.

In total, Bunia-born Tuanzebe made 40 starts and five sub appearances for Town, scoring one goal, having signed on a free transfer after leaving Old Trafford in the summer of 2023.

Photo: TWTD

Rimsy added 18:51 - Jun 26 Must say I'm disappointed he chose not to repay the faith we showed him. He was going nowhere when we took him on, rehabilitated him and got him playing again, albeit not as often as we'd have liked. O'Shea would have been a much bigger loss imo. We have good enough cover at right back for the Championship.
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johnwarksshorts added 18:53 - Jun 26 Even if he fails medical and doesn't go, do we really want a player who doesn't want to be here. We've got plenty of cover at Championship level.
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Bert added 18:55 - Jun 26 Wish him well and don’t blame him if his family are from up north. There will be exits and new blood, all part of the usual process. Two in midfield and a striker would be my priorities.
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Steph added 19:00 - Jun 26 Fickle fandom. Hero to zero. Not that good. Injury prone blah blah. But a PL club comes calling. Good luck to him. Shades of McGoldrick.
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Suffolkboy added 19:02 - Jun 26 So he and his family want to go north !— contract up ,his decision and little doubt KM and MA have had this in mind as they plan forward with their usual forethought ! No reason for doubt ,let’s remain positive and confident —we’ve got the makings of becoming a Club of material influence as marvellous developments abound ! COYB
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blues1 added 19:04 - Jun 26 As Cressi has said. His wife doesnt like living down here, so a move back up north makes sense for him and his family. Shame he's going nutcwe habe plenty of cover for rb. At least t players can play there. So no real need to replace him. Can concentrate on the other areas of the team
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Cookieboy added 19:05 - Jun 26 Loyalty in football means sod all nowadays !!!!
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gkroon89 added 19:10 - Jun 26 5 or 6 signings? What? We really only need 2 CM’s and a STR. We have enough cover everywhere else not to worry about. In squad already: X3 GK’s x2 LB’s (3 with Boniface) X2 RB’s X4 CB’s (Baggott and Wolfenden as back up) X3 CM’s (not sure Humphries is quite good enough though) hence X2 CM’s needed Too many number 10’s and wingers to count X2 STR’s (Al Hamadi not good enough though) hence another required That’s all we really need.

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dirtydingusmagee added 19:10 - Jun 26 Blueboy why do you always have a pop at others in your posts,,sometimes you are right sometimes you are wrong but it's your opinion which you are entitled, and the others are entitled to theirs.The season hasn't started yet and you have started your usual rants,give it a rest, PLEASE
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TimmyH added 19:32 - Jun 26 McKenna handed him a lifeline whilst under contract with Man U after failed loans. else where..he had a chance for 1st team action with us and then in the Premiership, I think we know where his heart is and that's not here. Cheerio!
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WalkRules added 19:34 - Jun 26 Sad but he was so injury prone and this season we need more attacking RBs so should be ok with what we have. Midfielders please.
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churchmans added 19:39 - Jun 26 Burges now axel and maybe omari this is really concerning! Hope the club have a plan thats going to work
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RobsonWark added 19:44 - Jun 26 gkroon89 when you say 3 GK's I trust and hope you mean Palmer, Walton and Slicker?
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1960H added 20:01 - Jun 26 @gkroon89.........spot on
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gkroon89 added 20:04 - Jun 26 RobsonWark 3 and 1/2 including Muric. I am one of those that could not believe we signed him right from the start. We got abuse on here, but we were proved right pretty much straight away.
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bluesince76 added 20:07 - Jun 26 Tuanzebe was one of our best players in the Premier league will need to be replaced with hopefully a better player then Clarke or Johnson
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trevski_s added 20:12 - Jun 26 This is a real shame as I always though Axel was solid in defence and even made the step up to the Premier League well. I do wish him the best of luck and hopefully can stay injury free but I thought he might have gone for someone like Fulham, Palace, Brentford just not one of the newly promoted sides seeing how the trend has been recently for them (suppose it depends who offered him a deal). Now a real chance for Clarke and Johnson to step up as Clarke showed real promise in Championship last time and both are more then good enough for this league and we also have O'Shea that can cover that position if its needed in a pinch

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BangaloreBlues added 20:14 - Jun 26 Gutted. When he was on the pitch in the first half of last season, we put in performances and got points. When he was out injured we seemed to lose. At least, that's how I remember it. A very tough gap to fill in our defence. I'm absolutely gutted, but I wish him all the best, he's too good for the Championship.
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dusseldorf_blue added 20:21 - Jun 26 When Burnley are relegated and we are promoted he’ll come back. Yo-yo clubs and yo-yo players
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blues1 added 20:24 - Jun 26 Darkhorse. His,wife wasn't happy living down here. So a .over up north makes sense for him.Dont you feel doing something for his family is the right thing to do then?
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blues1 added 20:27 - Jun 26 ArnieM. We arent left with just Clarke and johnson for rb. Oshea, woolfie, ogbene, even burns could play there. So plenty of cover for that position. Will be interesting to see if they think it necessary to sign anyone else. But think midfield and a striker the most pressing areas.
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Broadbent23 added 20:41 - Jun 26 We will have him back once Burnley get relegated and we bounce back.
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darkhorse28 added 20:42 - Jun 26 Good player, good luck to him, he probably does have potential at that level. That’s Delap, Tuenzabe, and Hutchinson will follow, our best three players. And we’re left with some very expensive ones that aren’t good enough. Our midfield is ONE player who might be an Egyptian king, but is 34! And we spent over £100 million to be here. We can probably stop allowing the senior management team to gas light loyal supporters, by calling it ‘progress’ now. Our contingency planning in midfield is like if David Brent and Frank Spencer had a love child…, at best, it’s negligent. Wouldn’t be so bad if Johnson didn’t have the desire and effort of a wet paper towel, good player, but doesn’t look like he wants to be a footballer.

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darkhorse28 added 20:50 - Jun 26 @TimmyH I doubt McKenna will be handing out any lectures on loyalty. He almost left us for Crystal Palace, he provisionally agreed to leave us for Brighton until we paid him what he wanted, and he was talking to Brentford as recently as THIS week. Bizarre the myopia with KM and loyalty, he’s stayed last summer because we paid him more than Brighton would, and we agreed to spend £150 million on new players. That’s not how I’d define loyalty. Good luck to Axel, he deserves to be at that level, and when we win one home game all season, and stink the league out, there will be consequences.

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Marcus added 20:54 - Jun 26 ITFCSG - Muric to Burnley? My own thinking is Norwich need a first choice keeper...
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