Liverpool were dismissed by Aurelien Tchouameni in June after the 23-year-old opted for Real Madrid instead.
The France international has turned down interest from the Reds to seal an £85.3m move to Spain, which he in fact admitted in an interview with Le Parisien.
Tchouameni said: “The first to come forward was Liverpool. We had discussions. Then came Real and everything was clear in my head. It was a real one and not another. It’s the biggest club in the world.”
Now – however – the Frenchman is struggling.
WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?
Well, Tchouameni was thrown into the spotlight when Casemiro left Real Madrid shortly after his arrival.
It looks like the £85.3m man is struggling to follow in the Brazilian’s footsteps, with one of Spain’s biggest news outlets – AS – claiming ‘there is something wrong with him. ‘man who rejected Liverpool’. The Spanish news outlet believes Tchouameni is having a “difficult time” at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Rouen-born maestro Carlo Ancelotti is said to have little to offer in either attack or defence, with his stats in the latter division inferior to Monaco’s last season.
As far as his offensive numbers go, Tchouameni isn’t known as a prolific goalscorer, but even he would agree that his return of zero goals and two assists in 29 appearances so far isn’t good enough.
LIVERPOOL STILL NEEDS AN ALTERNATIVE TCOUAMENI
Some might argue that Liverpool dodged a bullet here.
Whilst we wouldn’t go that far – as we expect Tchouameni to ultimately be fine – it appears Liverpool have avoided a very costly blunder at a time when finances are limited at Anfield and Jürgen Klopp needs an immediate fix to his midfield. problems. The emergence of Stefan Bajcetic has alleviated the problem somewhat, although Liverpool have yet to find a Tchouameni alternative this summer.
In truth, Klopp is likely to need two new central midfielders as Jordan Henderson and James Milner aren’t getting any younger while Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Thiago are all highly injury-prone.
Hopefully Tchouameni can improve at Madrid, but Klopp certainly won’t feel as bad as he did missing out on the Frenchman, who is now struggling.