The Kylian Mbappe saga has barely concluded, and Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are preparing for round two in their high-stakes donnybrook for world football supremacy. Aurelian Tchouameni is the latest France international being subjected to a tug-of-war between the old money of Los Blancos and the nouveau riche Rouge-et-Bleu.
Reports suggest Madrid feel like the deal is as good as done. An €80 million fee, plus an agreement on contractual terms with the Monaco midfielder, have put the 13-time European champions in pole position. But PSG are not a team that likes losing face, particularly in a battle to sign the next emerging French superstar.
Monaco are reportedly keen to wait for PSG’s bid, and you can see why. This is the team that paid €222 million for Neymar, and gave Kylian Mbappe a king’s ransom to stay at Parc des Princes. The club are hoping PSG will be prepared to blow Real’s bid out of the water, and their previous form shows this is not out of the question. When PSG set their mind to something, as shown with their lengthy pursuit of Lionel Messi, they get it more often than not.
But what will they, or Madrid, be getting in Tchouameni. His stats paint a picture of a dynamic box-to-box asset. A forward thinking mover of the ball, the 22-year-old attempts an average of 63 passes per game, and is successful with around 86% of those. He has just two assists from 35 games this season, which indicates those passes come more in Monaco’s build-up than they do in the opposition box. He does look forward with a large number of his passes, coming in the top 13% of midfielders across the big five leagues for progressive passes attempted.
Intriguingly, Tchouameni combines his passing attributes with some interesting physical contributions. He ranks highly in terms of aerial balls won, bringing down on average 2.46 per 90 minutes. His interceptions are remarkably in the top 1% for players in his position across the five major leagues. This makes him a potent weapon when it comes to turning over possession and starting attacks. He has drawn comparisons to Thiago Alcantara of Liverpool, and while he does not progress the ball quite as frequently as the Spaniard, he makes up this shortfall with what he offers defensively.
Usually you would expect a transfer saga such as this to drag on. But clubs big and small are getting their business done remarkably early this time around. Erling Haaland has already been confirmed as a Manchester City player, while Borussia Dortmund have moved quickly to spread the proceeds across the signings of Karim Adeyemi, Niklas Sule, Nico Schlotterbeck among others. Liverpool have scooped up Fulham starlet Fabio Carvalho while Manchester United are reportedly close on Ajax’s Jurrien Timber. With clubs quick out of the gate to lock down their top targets, the Tchouameni transfer could culminate remarkably soon.
Madrid still seem to be in pole position for this particular Monaco grand prix, but the same was said about Mbappe ahead of his sensational u-turn. The same was also said about the Messi deal, with even the most reliable sources claiming the Argentine would stay at Barcelona. If there is one thing we’ve learned in recent years, it is that when PSG are involved anything is possible.
