It has recently been reported that, along with West Ham's Declan Rice, United had shortlisted Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni as a primary target in the summer. Heading into the January transfer window, it's certainly worth having a look at the Frenchman.
Soon to be 22 years old, the six foot two defensive midfielder is currently enjoying his second full season in the principality having joined Monaco from Bordeaux in January 2020. Tchouameni was a mere 11 years old when he signed for Bordeaux over 10 years ago, making his debut in a second round tie in Europa League qualification in July 2018. He ultimately took to the field 37 times for the club before embarking on a new challenge at Monaco pre-pandemic, signing on a four-and-a-half year deal. Since, he has featured over 70 times for the Ligue 1 side.
His 2020/21 campaign caught the eye, earning himself the UNFP Ligue 1 Young Player of the Year award as well as a spot in the league's Team of the Year.
Come September this year, Tchouameni found himself joining up with the French senior squad for the first time, making his debut off the bench in a qualifier against Bosnia and Herzegovina. The following month, he found himself starting alongside Paul Pogba in the Nations League Final as his nation won yet more silverware.
Despite his tender age of only 21 years old, Tchouameni is already in the top bracket of midfielders in Europe.
Bare in mind, all comparisons that follow this are against other midfielders in Europe's top five leagues and major European cup competition. Stats are per FBref.
To start with, his ability in possession is very impressive. On average, he completes around 50 passes per match (more comfortably on his strong right foot), with an overall rate in the ball park of 85% of those attempted completed. His passing range is a strong attribute, with Tchouameni's adept long passing ability making him a capable switcher of play - aligned with Ralf Rangnick's ethos of direct football.
The Frenchman is an effective asset in buildup, with over a quarter of his passing distance progressive; the young midfielder is inside the top 25% for the amount of progressive passes played per 90 minutes. He is better than most in this department, especially as someone who is also such a capable defender - which I'll come to later.
Although he is a proficient progressive passer, Tchouameni isn't renowned for playing very many key passes at all (significantly below one per game). However, he often plays up to five passes into the final third per match, putting him in and around the top 30% of midfielders. The Monaco man is in a similarly sound bracket for the amount of passes played into the penalty area. On average, only two of Tchouameni's passes per match are either intercepted or blocked per game. He is excellent under pressure, inside the top 10% of midfielders for passes made under pressure from an opponent. He is an effective mover around the midfield area, with passing and moving a key feature of his game.
Linking with his expertise in progressive passing, Tchouameni has proven that he likes to drive the ball forward, further proving himself as a catalyst for attacks in transition. Per 90 minutes, he completes over 45 carries, with one of the top carrying distances in the continent - which includes a substantial amount of progressive carries. He doesn't attempt many take-ons, but is verging on the top 5% by way of success rate. For the hefty quantity of carries he attempts, it's certainly forgivable that he only usually loses the ball once every match through such mean.
The Frenchman is a dominant presence in the Monaco midfield, frequently touching the ball in excess of 70 touches per game - this places him within the top quarter of players. Predominantly, he dominates the midfield areas, placing inside the top 15% for touches within the middle third.
Tchouameni mainly partners Youssouf Fofana in a pivot pair, both in front of a back three or back four. For the most-part, it's Fofana who sits deeper to facilitate Tchouameni covering lots of ground in a more box-to-box role. No matter, the latter can be suited to deep areas in spite of his desire to progress. Even though he rarely ventures as high as the penalty area amidst his preference to progress, Tchouameni still attempts a couple of shots per 90 minutes. However, his accuracy is not always particularly on point, with efforts often from beyond the 18 yard box. Whilst the offensive elements of his game are accomplished for a theoretical defensive midfielder, Tchouameni is a more than competent defender. To commence, the midfielder wins the majority of his duels. Aerially, he wins around 70% of contests - positioning him inside the top 2% throughout Europe's top competitions. He is powerful and aggressive conjunct with his stature, aiding success in duels. Furthermore, he is an expert at cutting and blocking passing lanes. He is inside the top 3% for interceptions per 90 minutes, with a consistent output of up to three per match proving he can effectively screen a defence. With over seven per match, Tchouameni is inside the top 1% for the combined metric of tackles and interceptions; in the 2020/21 season across Europe's top five leagues, he placed second for the conjunct total of tackles and interceptions. He is an extremely defensively-active midfielder, and a proven ball winner. Delving further into the tackling aspect of his game, he is inside the top 2% with four per game - inside the top 1% for tackles won. Further outlining his proactivity in the midfield third, he is in the top 2% for tackles made in that area of the pitch. The aforementioned points correlate with Tchouameni's placement in the top 1% of midfielders for successful pressures, making seven per match on average. This is proportional to his success rate of tackling around half of dribblers, placing him in the top 10%. Meanwhile, he is on the verge of the top 10% for the amount of dribblers tackled - which is superior to the amount he is dribbled past. Ahead of a partner, Tchouameni really favours a high pressure approach - similar to tenacious workhorses of Fred's echelon already at United. However, he undoubtedly has more pre-existing discipline than those already at Old Trafford (proven by his success rates with presses). This proves further alignment with Rangnick's ethos, this time through pressing and, especially, counter pressing proactivity. With his exertion of duress from high up the pitch, attacking success is prevented and opposing moves are broken up very early. As alluded to, Tchouameni may not be so much a replacement - at least immediately - for someone of Nemanja Matic's ilk. Although there is every chance that he could be moulded, he currently isn't in the bracket of an established deep-lying midfielder such as Declan Rice or Wilfred Ndidi. In terms of moulding, though, you'd be right to argue that he has the required characteristics to operate the role of a 'sitter'. He can playmake, and could definitely do so from a deeper area. Even though his success if often slightly higher up the pitch, Tchouameni is one of the best around defensively; Rangnick's proactive style could see both members of a double pivot within a 4222 push up higher anyway, causing less need to spend valuable time moulding the Frenchman. Nonetheless, more fixed deep positioning isn't his current style. Right now, Tchouameni really thrives off high energy exertion. In his current role at Monaco, where he partner's a deeper-lying midfielder in Fofana, Tchouameni operates a role that United already have plenty of depth in. No doubt he'd be a welcome upgrade given less need to for improvement, but an upgrade would likely all that Tchouameni would be on United's current assets. Really, the club would just be adding depth, which isn't what is majorly required - especially for a fee rumoured in the region of 50 million euros. It's unlikely Tchouameni could instantly offer balance alongside someone like Paul Pogba or Donny van de Beek week in, week out for United; he has played alongside the former for his national team, though this has been in front of a five-man defence. No doubt, United would be getting themselves a mature, disciplined young midfielder. However, the club need more than just minor upgrades in a midfield that has lacked in recent times. Would Tchouameni offer a transformation? Possibly not, no matter his abundant talent.
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