Liverpool failed to sign Aurélien Tchouaméni this summer, but they would be wise to target his former Monaco teammate and new France, partner.
Liverpool identified one player as the answer to their aging midfield department after scouting players from France’s top flight last season. The Reds had found a future star in AS Monaco’s Aurélien Tchouaméni.
The overwhelming issue was that Real Madrid had done the same thing. With Toni Kroos now 32, Casemiro 30, and Luka Modric 37, the Spanish giants also needed new legs.
After losing out on Kylian Mbappé to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, Madrid went all-in for Tchouaméni, beating out Liverpool. After missing out on his top transfer target, Jürgen Klopp decided to wait before signing a replacement.
With the exception of Arthur Melo, who will spend the next 12 months on loan from Juventus, the Reds appear destined to navigate the upcoming season — until January at the earliest — without a new midfield presence within their ranks.
As the club’s scouting team searches Europe for a suitable candidate to fill their midfield vacancy, they may end up returning to France for a Tchouaméni replacement.
They may even return to Monaco, targeting his former teammate Youssouf Fofana, who appears to be thriving without his former teammate.
The Ligue 1 midfielder, 23, meets Liverpool’s typical age criteria, and his weekly wage at Monaco is low in comparison to those tied down at Anfield, opening the door to a deal. According to Capology, Fofana has only two years left on his contract, which means he could be available for transfer in the coming months.
This week, the six-foot midfielder made his international debut for France against Austria, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2-0 win for Didier Deschamps alongside Tchouaméni in the middle of the park.
“Aurélien and I had done this double pivot quite a few times before, so it was natural and he quickly understood,” the modest Fofana said after the game. “Because I’m a little hard on myself, I’ll never tell you that I had a good match.”
Paul Mitchell, Monaco’s sporting director who was previously a chief scout for Spurs and RB Leipzig and has been tipped for a prominent job in England in recent years, spoke out about Fofana’s call-up.
“Tchouaméni was rightly recognized for some really big and important performances with us,” he said. “Maybe the shadow was cast too much over the quality of Youssouf’s performances.”
The French international, who is currently valued at £18m by Transfermarkt, has the rest of the campaign to continue impressing. He doesn’t appear quite as much of an outlier as Tchouaméni does in the numbers, but his profile appears attractive and could suit Klopp’s intense brand of football.
Once grouping his rapid development alongside Liverpool’s pressing need for a new central midfielder, it is only natural to consider whether Fofana could end up on Merseyside before too long.
It would be a strange turn of events, but the Reds could realistically fill their Tchouaméni void by signing the midfield partner who helped him shine during his time at Monaco last term.
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