With just over two months remaining until the official opening of the summer transfer window, it’s clear that Real Madrid are due quite a few wholesale changes to their roster. Álvaro Arbeloa’s side are all but guaranteed to miss out on all three major trophies for a second straight season, having lost to lower-tier 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
quashed on Wednesday after falling to a 6-4 aggregate defeat to Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.
It’s highly likely that we will be looking at a drastically different Real Madrid in 2026/27, starting off with what will be the club’s fourth head coach in a year. David Alaba is set to depart on a free transfer this summer, whilst Antonio Rüdiger and Dani Carvajal could do the same. Real will have major decisions to make regarding Vinícius Júnior, Brahim Diaz, Thibaut Courtois, Fran García and Dani Ceballos, whose contacts are set to expire in 2027,\ whilst Eduardo Camavinga has been linked with a departure following his mind-boggling expulsion against Bayern. Other players like Gonzalo García, Ferland Mendy and Raúl Asencio could be headed towards the exit door, and one in particular whose future appears to be more and more up in the air is Aurélién Tchouaméni.
Born on January 27, 2000, Tchouaméni was raised by Camerooniain parents in France and developed in Girondins de Bordeaux’s academy before eventually making his first-team debut on July 26, 2018 under the watchful eye of Gustavo Poyet. Tchouaméni emerged as a vital cog in midfield for Bordeaux and eventually attracted the attention of fellow Ligue 1 side Monaco. After 2.5 years in the principality, Tchouaméni decided to leave France for the first time in his life, making the move to Real Madrid in July 2022 for €80 million, rising to €100 million due to additional bonuses.
“I watched Tchouaméni during my first season in Bordeaux, and he was playing for the second team in the Coupe Gambardella, this big youth competition in France. I went to see him a few times, and I brought him in pre season to train with us,” stated Poyet in an exclusive Managing Madrid interview. “He was already a big, long player, and I was playing him a little bit more forward, which was a good thing. I wanted him to play a number 8, not as a number 6, and I gave him the debut. I think it was an easy debut: I cannot put any medals on me, because he was already a top player. After I left, he went to Monaco for nearly €10 million. I thought, ‘Okay, it’s a good step, because Bordeaux was not doing very well, and Monaco had a very strong team.’ And then when he went to Real Madrid, my feeling was that if he had time to adapt, then he’d play forever at Real Madrid.”
“At the time, Casemiro was still there, so I thought that he’d have time to play, look, learn, and then Casemiro left in the same summer and they threw Aurélien onto the pitch. But I think he’s an intelligent player – I remember him asking 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’re fantastic. I think the whole package was there for him to go to another level, but obviously, when you play for Real Madrid, it’s a different kind of situation, because whatever you do, you are genius, or you’re a disaster. Five months ago, they were criticizing Valverde’s form because he was playing right back, and now the last month, Valverde is the best player in the world. That’s Real Madrid. But I’m happy for him: he deserves to be there, and I’m very pleased that I helped a little bit. Not a lot, but just the beginning.”
Tchouaméni enjoyed a promising start to life in Real Madrid, emerging as a crucial figure under Carlo Ancelotti and spurring France to the 2022 World Cup Final in Qatar. He did even better in his second season and showcased his versatility, impressing as a deep-lying midfielder as well as filling in for the injured David Alaba and Éder Militão as Los Blancos prevailed with the LaLiga + UEFA Champions League double. However, ever since Ancelotti’s departure, Tchouaméni has taken a step back in his footballing production. With neither Luka Modrić nor Toni Kroos there to hold his hand in possession, he’s being forced to take more risks on the ball and execute actions that simply aren’t in his repertoire. This, combined with a lack of discipline, has resulted in him being caught out with careless giveaways as well as rash tackles – this would end up costing Real as he missed the second leg against Bayern due to yellow card accumulation.
All things considered, Tchouaméni hasn’t yet managed to pay off his lofty price tag or prove why Real hand picked him as their long-term successor to Casemiro’s throne. And while he may not be one of the first names that Real will be looking to move on from him this summer, he also hasn’t proven that he deserves to be a part of their long-term future. Real have been deprived of a deep-lying midfield orchestrator in the past two seasons, and they’ll be looking to purchase a sturdy operator who can control the flow of possession and free up the likes of Arda Güler, Jude Bellingham, and Federico Valverde to bomb forward. With a contract until 2028, time is running out for Tchouaméni to prove that he’s still capable of ticking all of those boxes and becoming Real’s next legendary midfield anchor after Fernando Redondo, Claude Makelélé, Xabi Alonso, and Casemiro.
