The Premier League season is over and that means the transfer rumor mill is going into overdrive. With the drama of Championship Sunday done and dusted, it’s time to cast an eye at the player movement market.
There is no shortage of rumors when it comes to the transfer market. Follow this series throughout the summer as I look at the likelihood of some of the transfer rumors doing the rounds and whether I think they will work out.
Aurelien Tchouameni
If I asked the average football fan on the street who Aurelien Tchouameni was at the start of this season, I would have gotten a lot of blank faces. Outside of Ligue 1, he was a bit of an unknown quantity. This year, however, Tchouameni has become a colossus for Monaco, as they finished third and qualified for the UEFA Champions League.
Playing primarily as a defensive midfielder for The Monegasques, Tchouameni was a defensive wall. He averaged almost 3 tackles per game for the 2021/22 season and a mammoth 3.55 interceptions per game.
The excellence of this is highlighted when you consider Casemiro averaged just 2 interceptions per game.
He also has tremendous vision and can be trusted to make the right decision with the ball at his feet.
He completed 86% of his passes for the season. For reference, that is a higher percentage of completed passes than Liverpool midfielder Thiago.
With stats like these, the Frenchman was always going to pique the interest of Europe’s super elite clubs. And that has definitely happened. Since the turn of the year, media have linked Aurelien with every top club you can think of. And the youngster has decided his preferred destination is Anfield and Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Reports have emerged recently that Aurelien Tchouameni has agreed on terms with the Premier League side.
Transfer guru Fabrizio Romano confirmed as much. The Reds’ interest is contingent on Monaco’s asking price being reasonable.
Real Madrid has also emerged as potential suitors for the player in the last couple of days. Football fans online have even had some fun with these rumors, going back to a tweet emerging from 2012, where Aurelien Tchouameni said he was signing for the UCL winners.
LIKELIHOOD <10%
Far be it from me to go against transfer guru Fabrizio Romano or French publication RMC, but I do not see this transfer happening. There are three reasons for this:
- Liverpool needs to strengthen their midfield, but not necessarily in the position that Tchouameni excels in. And he would cost ‘crazy money’. Liverpool is too financially prudent to spend ‘crazy money’ on a player who would likely ride the bench.
- Real Madrid has entered the fray. Los Blancos are reeling after missing out on Kylian Mbappe. They have the financial might (and the short-sightedness) to outbid Liverpool if it comes to it. If it is a shootout between Liverpool and Real Madrid, Monaco can squeeze more money out of the Spaniards than the Scousers.
- Liverpool’s transfer business rarely plays out in public. Think about it, since the Virgil van Dijk saga, a lot of Liverpool’s transfer business has gone under the radar. I don’t see how this piece of business would be any different.
Stuart Kavanagh is a sports journalist from Melbourne, Australia. Along with being the owner of the sports and entertainment website thepyrrhic.com, he is the co-host of the ‘After Extra Time’ podcast. Football mad, he is always down for debate and discussion at @stueyissickofit on Twitter.