Earlier in the day, news broke that Real Madrid had agreed a deal with AS Monaco to bring Aurelien Tchouameni to the Santiago Bernabeu.
That news was courtesy of RMC Sport in France, but reports emerging out of Spain have cast doubt on that idea. According to Marca, Los Blancos have not agreed to spend €80m on the French midfielder.
Real Madrid are keen to bring Tchouameni in following the rejection of Kylian Mbappe, but not to the extent that they are willing to pay that size of fee.
The problem could be the interest of Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool, both of whom may well reach Monaco’s asking price. With Real Madrid focused on Mbappe, the other two pretenders for his signature had heightened their interest and the Spanish champions now face stiff competition.
It will be intriguing to see how far Florentino Perez is willing to go to bring in Tchouameni. On an emotional level, losing out to either of those teams could knock confidence in La Casa Blanca even further, as Real Madrid look to reassert their strength on the European market.
