Soccer. Aurélien Tchouaméni, a Girondin in the Real house

The finalization, which could wait for the closing of the international window, will thus mark the end of a top-flight season for the international, who played Monday in Croatia (1-1) his 60^e match since August. Passing a new milestone during the second half of last season in Monaco, the midfielder, launched with the pros in August 2018 by Gustavo Poyet and Eric Bedouet, will have done more than confirm.

Called for the first time in the France team in September, he was able to rise to the level, an important player in the success of the Blues in the final phase of the League of Nations in November then holder during the following rallies. If the defeat against Donetsk last summer deprived him of the discovery of the Champions League, he became the leader of ASM (50 games, 5 goals and 3 assists).

Paris SG tried

For a long time, Chelsea, in contact since last summer, seemed well placed to attract him. The war in Ukraine, by provoking the sale (in progress) of the English club of the Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich, financially excluded the London club from the race. Liverpool and their coach Jurgen Klopp also courted him. Above all, until the end, Paris SG will have tried to obtain his arrival.

Neither the weight of Kylian Mbappé, who would have seen his teammate in the selection join him, nor the salary proposals of the champion of France will have made him change his choice. A little revenge for Real, while President Florentino Perez got involved in the discussions.

At the Champions League winner, Tchouaméni, who has spoken several times with coach Carlo Ancelotti about its use, arrives alongside Casemiro (30 years old), Kroos (32 years old) and Modric (36 years old) for strengthen the environment and make the gradual transition between two generations. He will have to become one of the leaders of the next one, with the other Frenchman Eduardo Camavinga (20 years old), Vinicius (22 years old), Rodrygo (21 years old) or even the Munich resident Serge Gnabry (26 years old), one of the other targets mentioned of the Merengue after the failure of the recruitment of Mbappé.

The Girondins were waiting for him

Seen from Bordeaux, the amount of the transfer is first of all a record for a player trained at Haillan, where he spent nine years at the end of his five seasons at Artigues. The sum, higher than that envisaged at the start, comes (a little) to relieve the finances of the Girondins, who had transferred him to Monaco in January 2020 against 20 million euros and an incentive for the resale (20% of the most -value according to several sources familiar with the matter).