Aurelien Tchouameni (22 years old) was one of the protagonists of the last Madrid derby with his chopped pass to Rodrygo that led to Real Madrid’s first goal. An attendance so inspired that it was echoed in London, where they still regret not having tied him down in the summer of 2021, as reported by Football London.
And it is that according to the London medium, Chelsea had it in their power to get the French midfielder that summer. After many years in contact with Tchouameni and his agents -with whom they ended up building a good relationship-, the ‘blues’ needed a new piece for their midfield and thought of the then Monaco playervalued at 60 million pounds (70 million euros, with the exchange rate at the time).
Nevertheless, in the high spheres of Stamford Bridge, they were not convinced that Tchoumameni could have an instant impact for Thomas Tuchel, so they ended up being decanted by Saúl Ñíguez. The Spaniard arrived on loan from Atlético de Madrid with a purchase option of 30 million pounds (35 million euros), but it was never executed and his performance was worse than expected.
That’s why, a year later and with the contracts of Kanté and Jorginho close to expiring (in 2023), the new Chelsea board throws its hands in the head with his dilemma in midfield. And neither the reinforcements from Chukwuemeka nor Denis Zakaria have helped them forget about Tchouameni, the signing that he could have been and never was.
