Former Barcelona scout and father of current technical staff member there Bojan Krkic Sr. has revealed that he went to watch Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni, but did not recommend his signing. An opinion he likely would have been criticised for last season, but with the Frenchman not the object of harsh reviews, may not find so much backlash.
Previously, Cesc Fabregas has revealed that he prompted Barcelona to go and watch Tchouameni while the pair shared a dressing room at AS Monaco. It was their rivals Real Madrid that spent €80m on him though, and Krkic Sr. may well be part of the reason why.
“I went to see him two or three times, against PSG and Marseille,” he told SER Catalunya, as carried by MD.
Viktor Gyökeres has a release clause of 100 million euros, and Sporting CP have no intention of negotiating a lower fee, making his signing practically impossible. @Jordigil
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) November 21, 2024
“In my reports I always put the same thing: he has power, strength, aggressiveness in marking, perhaps in excess, but creativity; little.” He estabished that “was not for a big club, I didn’t like him,” Krkic senior noted.
This season Tchouameni has come in for heavy criticism, as Real Madrid struggle to find the balance between attack and defence. It has even been said that the hierarchy at the club are losing patience with the France international, and will consider selling him at the right price next season.
Termites waiting for a player to have a bad spell and then post their “expert” opinion. It doesn’t take a genius to see that creativity is not what is on offer with Tchouameni. His stock in trade is pure DM. Barca always want a creative DM … but the huge score line losses Barca has experienced in the CL in the past 10 years points to a delusional neglect of reality regarding that position. Remember: it is better to stop the play in the middle than to let it go to the backs to sort out (and no, the off-side trap cannot be the only solution… it will cease to be a novelty as soon as teams stop thinking through ball and actually play through Barca’s midfield).
The problem for RM right now is that he is struggling to do the defensive part well. It may be a combination of carrying an injury and the messed up structure to accommodate MBappe.
Regardless, this is a fine player that on-form can stop any team dead in their tracks.