Should Real Madrid Cash In On Aurélien Tchouaméni?

With just over two months until the summer transfer window officially opens, it’s clear that Real Madrid need to make many important changes to their squad. Álvaro Arbeloa’s side are all but assured of missing out on all three major trophies for a second consecutive season, after losing to Albacete in the Copa del Rey and falling nine points behind Barcelona. The UEFA Champions League represented their only hope of avoiding a trophyless campaign, but those ambitions were dashed on Wednesday after a 6-4 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

It’s highly likely that we’ll be dealing with a radically different Real Madrid in 2026/27, starting with whoever will be the club’s fourth head coach in a year. David Alaba is set to leave on a free transfer this summer, while Antonio Rüdiger and Dani Carvajal could do the same. Real will have important decisions to make regarding Vinícius Júnior, Brahim Diaz, Thibaut Courtois, Fran García and Dani Ceballos, whose contracts expire in 2027, while Eduardo Camavinga is linked with a departure following his stunning sending off against Bayern. Other players like Gonzalo García, Ferland Mendy and Raúl Asencio could be heading for the exit door, and one in particular whose future looks increasingly uncertain is Aurélién Tchouaméni.

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Born on January 27, 2000, Tchouaméni was raised by Cameroonian parents in France and played at the Girondins de Bordeaux training center before finally making his first team debut on July 26, 2018 under the watchful eye of Gustavo Poyet. Tchouaméni became a vital cog in midfield for Bordeaux and eventually caught the attention of fellow Ligue 1 side Monaco. After 2 and a half years in the principality, Tchouaméni decided to leave France for the first time in his life and joined Real Madrid in July 2022 for 80 million euros, which could reach 100 million euros thanks to additional bonuses.

“I watched Tchouaméni in my first season at Bordeaux, and he was playing for the second team in the Coupe Gambardella, this big youth competition in France. I went to see him several times and I brought him in pre-season to train with us,” Poyet said in an exclusive interview with Managing Madrid. “He was already a big, long player, and I was playing him a little more forward, which was a good thing. I wanted him to play a number 8, not a number 6, and I gave him his debut. I think it was an easy start: I can’t put any medals on myself, because he was already a top player. After I left, he went to Monaco for almost 10 million euros. I said to myself: ‘Okay, It’s a good step, because Bordeaux wasn’t doing very well and Monaco had a very strong team. And then when he went to Real Madrid, I had the feeling that if he had time to adapt, he would play at Real Madrid forever.

“At the time Casemiro was still there, so I thought he would have time to play, watch, learn, then Casemiro left that same summer and they put Aurélien on the pitch. But I think he’s a smart player, I remember he asked me for a day off because he needed to study for his school exam. He learned the language in Spain very quickly, he has a good family, I met the parents, they are fantastic. I think everything was there for him to go to another level but obviously, when you play at Real Madrid, it’s a different situation, because whatever you do, you are a genius, or you are a disaster.

Tchouaméni has enjoyed a promising start to life at Real Madrid, becoming a crucial figure under Carlo Ancelotti and pushing France to the 2022 World Cup final in Qatar. He did even better in his second season and showed his versatility, impressing as a deep-lying midfielder and replacing the injured David Alaba and Éder Militão as Los Blancos prevailed with the LaLiga + UEFA Champions League double. But since the departure of Ancelotti, Tchouaméni has taken a step back in his footballing production. Without Luka Modrić or Toni Kroos to hold his hand, he is forced to take more risks with the ball and execute actions that simply aren’t in his repertoire. This, combined with a lack of discipline, led to him being caught out with careless gifts as well as rash tackles – this would ultimately cost Real dearly as he missed the second leg against Bayern due to the accumulation of yellow cards.

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All things considered, Tchouaméni has yet to pay his high price or prove why Real chose him as their long-term successor to Casemiro’s throne. And while he may not be one of the first names Real will look to move on from this summer, he hasn’t proven himself worthy of being part of their long-term future either. Real have been without a deep-lying midfield orchestrator for the past two seasons, and they will look to buy a solid operator who can control the flow of possession and free up players like Arda Güler, Jude Bellingham and Federico Valverde to bomb forward. With a contract until 2028, time is running out for Tchouaméni to prove he is still capable of ticking all those boxes and become Real’s next legendary midfielder after Fernando Redondo, Claude Makelélé, Xabi Alonso and Casemiro.