One everywhere, the ball in the center.
As soon as the soap opera Kylian Mbappé ended, PSG and Real Madrid fought a new battle to try to snatch the signature of Aurélien Tchouaméni.
But this time, it was not the Parisian club that won the bet.
Indeed, as announced in Le Parisien for several days, the midfielder of AS Monaco (22 years old) will take the direction of Spain.
It was his priority.
Moreover, PSG understood this well by burying this file early enough to focus on other less expensive tracks, such as the one leading to Lensois Seko Fofana.
Already agreed on the terms of his contract with the Merengue club for a while, Aurélien Tchouaméni was waiting for common ground to be found between Real and Monaco to finalize his transfer.
It's done, since a total agreement was reached on Tuesday, as explained by the English media The Athletic, for an amount of up to 100 million euros including bonus.
A time followed by Liverpool, the native of Rouen has never changed course.
He even imagined signing for Real last week, two days before the France-Denmark match at the Stade de France, but the final details had not yet been settled between the clubs.
Monaco was fussy about several bonuses to be determined, which slowed down his signing.
Finally, the time has therefore come, six days later, to put its stamp on the contract.
In the footsteps of Pogba
Aurélien Tchouaméni had made his departure intentions for Real known to several teammates at the end of the season.
The call from Mbappé received before the gathering of the Blues did not change anything.
In Madrid next season, he will come to swell the already well-stocked contingent of French players, with Karim Benzema, Ferland Mendy and Eduardo Camavinga.
He will compete in midfield with the latter, as well as Casemiro, Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Federico Valverde who have all worked to win a 14th Champions League for Real Madrid this season.
The tricolor international (10 caps, 1 goal) will become the most expensive midfielder in history since Paul Pogba, transferred from Juventus Turin to Manchester United in August 2016 for 105 million euros.
Only Griezmann (120 million euros), Dembélé (105 million euros) and Mbappé (180 million euros) can claim to have cost more at the time of their sale among French players.
Nice-Matin specifies that Tchouaméni spent part of his medical examination in Split on Tuesday, on the sidelines of the gathering of the Blues.
The formalization of his transfer is only a matter of time now.
