Aurelien Tchouameni

Getting Liverpool links. Proper talent. Without a doubt top of the pile at the moment. Think he can be a proper Vieira type player. Doesn't have too much attacking prowess but his defensive talent and tempo control is brilliant, combative, decent passer, as well as a good progressive ball carrier ball retainer.

I gotto revise my young CM rankings. Previously I had Bellingham top. I've actually come down on Jude, Bundesfodder tax. I don't like his jogging nonchalant style. It was the same reason I was super cold on Havertz as a midfielder. It was a joke when Chelsea fans thought he was a Ballack regen or whatever. Only as a false 9 has he actually come to prove himself in PL (and he's a really good one at that). Wasn't a proper midfielder like I knew he wouldn't. Anyway, I'm getting similar vibes from Bellingham. He has too much of nonchalance in his game plus he's playing in all the space Bundesliga affords. Bags of dribbling talent and offensive repertoire is legit, better than Tchouameni in that aspect, but overall way behind as a midfielder to Tchouameni, who can dominate games by himself.

I've been watching a lot of Villa since Gerrard went there and I'm super high on Jacob Ramsey. He's got everything Bellingham's got but he has raw intensity that Bellingham's lacks. He runs nonstop, sprints, closes down like a proper combative midfielder and can do the technical things Bellingham can do. It's the same reason I like Valverde but he lacks Bellingham's technical talent.

Based on talent Pedri has really special talent and already plays like Iniesta/Xavi regen. So I gotto show him some love.

Super cold on the other Barca kid Vagi or Gavi or whatever his name is. Works hard and dribbles but plays like a headless chicken. Headed for mediocrity.


Tchouameni=Pedri > Jacob Ramsey > Bellingham > Valverde > Camavinga > Vagi


Most disappointing is Frenkie. Regressed thoroughly at every level from Ajax 2019 instead of taking strides forward.

McAgger, bludclaart, i know they aren't CMs, but what do you think about Saka and Smith-Rowe?

Smith Rowe is not top tier level talent (a la Foden for example) but he's a good talent. 2nd tier talent. Brilliant technically and especially love his dribbling/ball carrying. His issue is he's not a proper forward, more of an AM hybrid playmaker but can only be played in a forward slot since AM's are extinct in todays game and I don't think he will ever be strong enough of a goal/assist threat/contributer to be elite as a forward and ever good enough to try in midfield. Aaron Ramsey level is his ceiling imo. Which is not bad. Grealish at Villa last season is the very best he could do, which is a really good level. But I think he's got some bust potential too.

I'm by far the highest on Martinelli. If you give this kid to Klopp, he will be Mane/Salah regen without question. I don't know how much Arteta will get out of him but honestly he's too talented to screw up. He'll be Son level forward at least. Incredible talent. Every time against Liverpool, he scares the shit out of me.

Saka is a gem with an asterisk. I like him. But I don't think he's the elite level talent people think he is (ilke Foden/Martinelli). He's also not 2nd tier level talent like Smith Rowe. So somewhere in between. I think he'll achieve a level everyone expected Rashford to achieve but he failed. He's never played super well against Liverpool so I can't say he ever strikes fear into me. Another thing he's not as quick as people think. I'm usually very low on players who completely kill an attack when they stop the ball and get the defender completely stationary (like literally standing still) before starting their dribble. He does that way too often. Just dribble in motion my guy. But having said that he's a good dribbler. It's hard to say. I'm medium hyped on Saka. I wouldn't be surprised either direction.

...matter of fact!

Whattttttt
McAgger is back in the football section
That too with a new thread about a young upcoming player, back with a bang

Helmer wrote:Whattttttt
McAgger is back in the football section
That too with a new thread about a young upcoming player, back with a bang

dude comes and goes lol

: [Stats: @Driblab]#Liverpool's Thiago Alcantara is the player with ???????????????? Interceptions and recoveries in the opposition's half out of all the top 5 leagues in Europe.

????????????????????????????????. pic.twitter.com/cNosMwyFhd

— LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) April 29, 2022

I think Madrid will go for him. We desperately need someone as an understudy for Fabinho and reduce the game load for him. This fella at number 2 would have been ideal, if not DM even as a CM.

Kondogbia/Bakayoko regen

They’ll come out with another in a few years

Pass

That being said elite posts Mcagger.

I think Pedri is by far the best midfield talent. Barca has collapsed without him. I haven’t seen a Barca game since he got injured.

Don’t write off De Jong. Xavi knew how to use him then decided to play him in between the lines because he wanted Pedri to play LCM. Barca's left triangle was similar to Liverpool's for a period of time. Ferran was tucking into the channel, Alba was wide, and Frenkie was covering their back. In Liverpool's case it's Diaz tucking in, Robertson wide, and Thiago covering. Barca's right-sided triangle was similar to City's. Pedri was in the right half-space, Dembele was hugging the touchline, and Alves was covering by inverting.

It was the 4-0 win against Osasuna where Xavi changed the left triangle and made it like the right triangle. Pedri moved to the left half-space, Ferran played wider, and Alba began inverting. My theories are this was done because Barca's defensive transition was better without Alba playing so high. It was also done because Pedri is much better on the left than on the right.

So Frenkie has been playing in between the lines for the last month and it's no surprise his form has suffered. If Xavi is going to persist with playing his 8’s as glorified 10’s then Frenkie is better off leaving.

I’m not too big on Gavi. Then again I don’t remember the last time a 17 year old started in midfield for a big club. He’s obviously immature but that’s to be expected. Valverde is a donkey. Good athletically but limited technically. Uruguayan Henderson at best. Jude needs humbling. I’ve seen clips of him shouting at older teammates over misplaced passes but he’s a great talent too. I like Camavinga a lot. He plays in a controlled manner but he does it at a very high tempo. I’d say Pedri, Jude, and Camavinga are the most interesting midfield talents.

What do you think of Gravenberch?

You should check out Pablo Torre, Barca have signed another gem. The next Bernardo Silva, possibly. His reading of the game and anticipating 2-3 moves in advance reminds of Pedri.

Madrid tried to hijack his transfer recently. Scored a hattrick last week too

Tchouameni looking good I can see why Klopp would like him in his midfield. Good ball recovery along with vision to provide and outlet and can move box to box style. Emphasis on Box to Box style.

LFC have made an offer for Aurélien Tchouaméni that Monaco are happy with. It is now up to the player to decide. #LFC

— Grizz Khan (@GrizzKhan) April 29, 2022

Welcome to Real Madrid

Perez has lost it if he spends 80ME on a CDM no matter how much we need one

Casemiro with the right partners has quite a few years left in him

Agreed Hala, this is a big concern I have with his signing

80m is enormous for someone who wont start right away

The fee is definitely too high, but Monaco knows already that there are many clubs interested, and so they are going to take advantage of that to pump up the price as high as possible. Their sporting director Paul Mitchell even said this:

Je n’ai pas de préférence pour être honnête. Comme toujours lorsque vous vendez un joueur, il faut une rémunération équitable. Le marché est différent chaque année. Tout le monde a pu se rendre compte du top joueur qu’est Aurélien mais tout le monde sait aussi qu’on est un club ambitieux avec un actionnaire ambitieux donc non je n’ai aucune préférence quand on parle de le vendre. Il faudra être très agressif en termes d’offre pour que nous puissions perdre un joueur aussi incroyablement doué

The bold part translated in English roughly means: "Offers have to be very aggressive if they want us to sell a top player like Tchouameni".

Madrid has funds from the Mbappé fiasco and I think Perez is understandably very pissed right now and will try to keep him from joining PSG even if it would mean Tchouaméni spending next season on the bench.

Tchouameni was going to Liverpool because he was guaranteed to be a regular... he was dismissing any team that couldn't give him that assurance per media reports in France. He does not want to lose his place on France NT for the world cup.

For him to choose Real Madrid, assurances were given (if true). It begs the question... who is he replacing?

We may see a complete overhaul of our midfield next year.

The fee is only an issue if it ends up preventing you from making other necessary reinforcements. I think this year Madrid has enough resources to "overpay" for a couple signings.

And he is much more than a CDM btw... kid has game.

sportsczy wrote:Tchouameni was going to Liverpool because he was guaranteed to be a regular... he was dismissing any team that couldn't give him that assurance per media reports in France. He does not want to lose his place on France NT for the world cup.

For him to choose Real Madrid, assurances were given (if true). It begs the question... who is he replacing?

We may see a complete overhaul of our midfield next year.

Breaking into Liverpool's midfield would not have been that much easier. Fabinho-Thiago seems like the perfect midfield partnership.

The video game solution would be to field a Tchouaméni-Camavinga double pivot and let Modric play his waning days closer to the attack, which is where he seems to be playing his best football these days. But obviously it's bit more complicated than that IRL.

farfan wrote:The fee is only an issue if it ends up preventing you from making other necessary reinforcements. I think this year Madrid has enough resources to "overpay" for a couple signings.

Exactly.

Imagine the actor who's playing Henry Ford II in the following scene is Perez and start watching from 1:08:

I feel like Perez is in that mood right now.

After watching him a couple games at Monaco, I don't mind the price at all. The young man could actually play ball and also, Monaco is not in a position to sell for a lower fee than they want. So all clubs would be paying a premium for his services including Madrid.

Potential midfield next season



Vini's dream midfield. Finally there are more players to choose from when he beats players as opposed to the 0 players thats available right now when he finds himself on the edge of the box

Took long enough but seems Perez finally realized the power of superior black athletes

Since we are no doubt going to see rotations of some sort of all 6 midfielders, perhaps we will see 4-4-2 formation or even 3-4-3!