Shortly after being linked with a move to Wolverhampton Wanderers in late-2019, a teenage Aurelien Tchouameni suffered the ignominy of being hauled off before the break as Bordeaux suffered a 2-1 home defeat to Lyon in Ligue 1.
“Several things,” Girondins coach Paulo Sousa explained when asked why Tchouameni was hooked with just 39 minutes on the clock.
“He was very slow on the ball. Two or three times, he lost the ball very easily. He lacked speed and mobility.”
It’s fair to say Tchouameni and Bordeaux have moved in similar directions since that ill-fated afternoon at the Matmut Atlantique.
Bordeaux, French champions as recently as 2009, were relegated for the first time in 30 years in May and that is only the blurb on the back of a horror novel that would give even Stephen King nightmares. Bordeaux finished bottom of the table, conceding a staggering 91 goals along the way, and things could still get worse with France’s famously merciless financial watchdog threatening further demotions as a punishment for the club’s dire financial position.
If Bordeaux really is Wine Country, then who could blame those long-suffering supporters for drinking themselves into a stupor?
Aurelien Tchouameni is joining Real Madrid from Monaco
Tchouameni, meanwhile, is putting the finishing touches on a £70 million move to Champions League winners Real Madrid, per RMC Sport. How Bordeaux could have done with the colossal France international last season. How they could do with him now, too. £70 million would go a long way to easing those financial fears after all.
Tchouameni joined Monaco in January 2020 and his rapid rise in the Principality would rival that of anyone who has graduated from the Monegasques feted finishing school in recent seasons; Bernardo Silva, Fabinho, Kylian Mbappe to name but three.
“Very very good. He’s not a boy, he’s a man,” France team-mate Paul Pogba told Ouest France before Les Bleus defeated Spain to win the UEFA Nations League in September.
“It was a pleasure to play next to him. He brings a lot of energy and extraordinary technical and physical quality.”
“He’s a complete midfielder, very fast and physically strong,” adds Monaco director Paul Mitchell. “He reminds me of Steven Gerrard.”
If things had worked out differently, Tchouameni could have been following in Gerrard’s gilded footsteps at Anfield. Liverpool wanted the 22-year-old enforcer this summer too. It’s safe to assume the men from Merseyside are sick of the sight of Real Madrid right about now.
If Tchouameni is the ‘complete midfielder’ these days, he was anything but when Wolves first took notice of a 19-year-old a couple of seasons ago.
Paulo Sousa obviously felt Tchouameni had a lot to learn back then. Now, he could certainly teach the current Bordeaux squad a thing or two.
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