Aurelien Tchouameni is a player you are likely to hear a lot about this summer, with the young midfielder attracting a lot of transfer attention.
The Monaco midfielder appears set for a summer move, with Manchester United, Liverpool, Real Madrid, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain all credited with interest. The 22-year-old has enjoyed a meteoric rise to prominence over the past few years, making international debut for France in September.
Tchouameni has been a regular for Monaco this season, making 44 appearances in all competitions, and is under contract with the French club until June 2024. It seems as though Monaco will have a fight on their hands to keep Tchouameni this summer. He is expected to fetch upwards of £42million (€50m) if he does leave.
United and Liverpool are favourites at this early stage to sign Tchouameni, but they will face a strong challenge from PSG, according to Le Parisien . Were he to join United’s rebuilding project under Erik ten Hag, Tchouameni could replace his international team-mate Paul Pogba, who is set to leave when his contract expires on July 1.
Pogba knows the young midfielder well, having been on the pitch when he made his France debut as a substitute during the 1-1 draw against Bosnia and Herzegovina in September and played alongside him in Les Bleus' Nations League final win over Spain in October. And the 29-year-old United player is clearly a fan, given his comments to broadcaster RTL, via Ouest-France , around the time of his debut.
"Very very good,” Pogba said. "He’s not a boy, he’s a man. Pleasure to play next to him. He brings a lot of energy. A lot of energy, extraordinary technical and physical quality. We wish him to play lots of matches, and that I am always at his side."
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Despite the widespread rumours over his future, Tchouameni has indicated that he is in no rush to leave Monaco, where he is developing his game through regular minutes on the pitch. “You don’t necessarily have to play for Real Madrid or Manchester City to play for the national team," he said.
"We see players here who also play for very good clubs like Wissam [Ben Yedder] and myself at our club . Monaco is not an obstacle for me to continue playing with the senior team. I'm very good with Monaco. I worked for a long time to get to where I am today. Honestly, I'm not focusing on what's next. I'm still working and progressing and we'll see later."
Whether he joins United or not, the club are braced for a major overhaul this summer upon the arrival of Ten Hag to take over from interim manager Ralf Rangnick. Pogba, Jesse Lingard, Edinson Cavani, Nemanja Matic and Juan Mata are all expected to leave, while there are doubts surrounding the futures of several other first-team players.
Midfield is a particular area of concern for the Old Trafford hierarchy, who are prepared to back Ten Hag with a £100m transfer budget.
