The £70m transfer trap Man United must avoid falling into this summer
Manchester United have been linked with a big-money new midfielder ahead of the summer
At this point, with the summer transfer window still nearly two months away from opening, it would probably be quicker to compile a list of elite midfielders that Manchester United hadn’t been linked with than those they have. The rumour mill is constantly churning out new names alleged to be on the Red Devils’ radar.
For the most part, the stories have come from the usual gossip columns and social media speculators. Most of them will prove to be untrue or to have at least been little more than guesswork and hearsay. Now, however, BBC Sport have chimed in, and will surely have good reason to believe that they are right to say that Real Madrid’s Aurelién Tchouaméni is on Manchester United’s shortlist for the summer. But would he be a good signing at an alleged asking price of £70m?
Why Manchester United might be interested in Aurelién Tchouaméni
Much of the noise coming out of Old Trafford ahead of the summer suggests that director of football Jason Wilcox is keen to move on from the club’s recent policy of signing younger players and instead favour those with a little more experience under their belts – players, in other words, who can help the club move towards the top of the Premier League sooner rather than later.
That could make Tchouaméni, 26 years old and with 190 appearances for Real Madrid and 44 caps from France under his belt, more appealing than more youthful targets such as Adam Wharton and Carlos Baleba.
The BBC’s report suggests that United are wary of Wharton’s supposed similarities to Kobbie Mainoo, and certainly there is some overlap in the two players’ roles if not in every detail of their playing style. Anderson, meanwhile, seems more likely to head across town to Manchester City as it stands, while Baleba has had a poor season after being linked with a move to United worth £100m or more a year ago.
Tchouaméni, by contrast, is more likely to cost around £70m, according to further reporting from TalkSport – who also note that the Frenchman, who is under contract at the Santiago Bernabeu until 2028, is content at the club and is not pushing for a move.
At the same time, Real are expected to undertake a midfield rebuild this summer. Eduardo Camavinga had been expected to be the player most likely to leave, but a “sizeable offer” for the more consistent Tchouaméni could change their mind, according to the BBC.
As a jack-of-all-trades box-to-box player, Tchouaméni certainly ticks many of the boxes United want. They need a defensive player who can take over from Casemiro in the anchoring role, but Tchouaméni also offers strong technical quality, excellent physicality and strong passing which means he creates more chances than the players currently on United’s books.
He isn’t necessarily a player who would suit a team looking to play direct or counter-attacking football as his long-range passing isn’t a strong suit and nor is he remarkably mobile, but assuming Michael Carrick remains in place and continues with his current methods, that shouldn’t be a major concern. He’s also been a highly consistent figure in Madrid this season – although that wasn’t necessarily true across the 2024/25 campaign, when his up-and-down performances came in for some criticism from a notoriously hard-to-please fanbase.
What United would get is a well-rounded midfielder who is rock-solid defensively, seldom misses a tackle or a chance to regain possession, and who uses the ball well. But are there reasons to be worried about how well he might pair with Mainoo?
Why Kobbie Mainoo’s playing style could make signing Tchouaméni a bad idea
For all of Tchouaméni’s qualities, he has one significant flaw – he is slow by the standards of elite football, and given that he likes to advance upfield when able, that can leave a lot of space in behind which he struggles to cover should he lose possession.
If played alongside a quicker, defensively-sharp player in a double pivot, that’s a relatively minor disadvantage as the player alongside him can plug any gaps that he creates. Mainoo, however, demonstrated under Ruben Amorim that he struggles to cover large swathes of space, and that he’s at his best operating in confined spaces, closer to his midfield colleagues.
Mainoo is superb at quick interchanges and short-distance bursts and highly effective as a disruptor when given a small patch to patrol, but he doesn’t have the fitness and positional sense to deal with dropping into the anchoring role when operating in a pivot system. That hasn’t been an issue under Carrick because Casemiro has generally held his position in a disciplined manner, giving Mainoo the freedom to get closer to the left winger and Bruno Fernandes.
Given that Mainoo is expected to sign a contract extension at Old Trafford, it makes little sense to sign a midfielder who doesn’t pair well with him. Would Tchouaméni be content to play a more conservative role to give Mainoo the freedom to operate as he needs to? Perhaps. But it’s not his natural game.
It’s also an issue with several other midfielders linked with a move to Manchester United – they’re box-to-box dynamos when what they need most of all is a true holding player. United perhaps don’t see it like that, given that they are so frequently linked with the kind of players who like to surge forward. They may believe that Mainoo can play in a double pivot if the pitch is condensed sufficiently, or they may simply want a player who can take Mainoo’s role too when the 21-year-old is injured or in need of a rest.
In that regard, Tchouaméni fits the bill, but £70m is a lot to spend on a stiff and rigid player who might not complement the man they want to play in the heart of their midfield for years to come. Whether they agree with that assessment or not, time will tell.