Liverpool have been looking for a tempo-setter in the midfield for years, and, at points, they had one of the two best in the world at this job after acquiring Thiago Alcantara for free in 2020.
Thiago was fresh off winning the treble for Bayern Munich and was as good as any footballer in the world at the time, even if his efforts were very much unsung by virtue of the nature of his position.
When healthy, Thiago was every bit the maestro conductor that Jurgen Klopp envisioned, but, unfortunately, those healthy moments were few and far between. Thiago retired from the game at the end of the season.
By then, though, Liverpool had overhauled their midfield and returned to their status as Premier League title contenders after landing Wataru Endo, Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, and this season’s big breakout star Ryan Gravenberch in the summer 2023 transfer window.
Despite all this and despite the fact that Liverpool are now first in the Premier League, the Reds are still in search of a midfield pivot who can anchor the team, with La Liga star Martin Zubimendi of Real Sociedad and Aurelien Tchouameni of Real Madrid at the top of their lists.
Zubimendi may be preferred, but he seems to be unwilling to leave La Real. That leaves Tchouameni, whom Liverpool tried to sign in 2022 but stood no chance against a Real Madrid juggernaut that had just beaten them in the Champions League Final.
But now, Liverpool have an opening to sign Tchouameni, who suffered injury to insult. The Frenchman will be out for a month injured, and he had such a poor performance against AC Milan in a 3-1 defeat for a sliding Real Madrid that he probably would have lost his starting job to Eduardo Camavinga anyway.
Tchouameni was already rumored to be on the market before this match, and now Sky Sports Switzerland’s Sacha Tavolieri reports that Real Madrid are willing to sell Tchou for 60 million euros, which is, at a minimum, 20 million euros less than what they bought him for from Monaco.
That makes Tchouameni an intriguing and reasonable transfer target for Liverpool at that price point. And yet, if Tchouameni’s season keeps going this poorly and Real Madrid start to look at other midfield options in this post-Toni Kroos world, perhaps the Reds could get him for cheaper.
Michael Edwards is looking for that last piece to make Liverpool the best team in Europe, and we can’t forget how good Tchouameni was in the 2023/24 season when Real Madrid won the Champions League.
If Liverpool can get him for, say, 40 million euros, he’d be a steal. It’s not realistic to expect Real Madrid to sell a 24-year-old No. 6 for half what they paid for him, but Liverpool could get lucky if Real get very unlucky.
