Chelsea have been given the free run to sign Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni in the upcoming summer transfer window amid interest from Manchester United and Liverpool.
Tchouameni, 21, has already been touted as N'Golo Kante's successor as the Ligue 1 young player of the season in the 2020/21 campaign ponders his next career move with the side from Monte Carlo in risk of missing out of European qualification this term if things don't turn for the better.
"In terms of being the potential future fulcrum of Chelsea's midfield, yes," French football expert Jonathan Johnson told football.london when asked if Tchouameni could be the long-term successor to Kante.
"However, I would argue that Tchouameni has the potential to do more than just replace Kante. The Monaco man has the makings of a rare complete midfielder whereas Kante has not built his reputation upon attacking prowess. Tchouameni could ultimately be the player Chelsea fans hoped Bakayoko would develop into.
"Tchouameni at the top of his game is a force of nature and has the potential to be the player that Tuchel builds his new-look midfield around.
"My impression is that Kante is closer to the end of his Chelsea story than the start, so it would make sense that Tuchel looks to blend Tchouameni more with Jorginho and Kovacic than his fellow Frenchman."
A dream scenario told there by the aforementioned footballing expert but there are certain factors that could prevent this potential transfer ever coming to fruition, including the intense competition for the 21-year-old's signature.
Alongside all the foreign interest, there are two Premier League giants wrestling the Blues for the signature of a player that was highly regarded by former midfielder and current teammate Cesc Fabregas.
Liverpool are among other Premier League rivals such as Man United who are tempted to go big on the young Frenchman, as per The Athletic, but the Blues' prolific nature in signing Ligue 1 players over the years could give them the slight advantage here.
In spite of this advantage, the desperate need that Ralf Rangnick has at Man United regarding signing a new midfielder meant that the Red Devils could have scuppered this long-term plan but the Bundesliga expertise on the interim's behalf may have saved the European Champions in this case.
This is because Rangnick and co are targeting Amadou Haidara of RB Leipzig and Denis Zakaria of Borussia Monchengladbach to replace the outgoing Donny Van de Beek but there is still some debate as to whether they will make their midfielder moves this month or in the summer.
"I'm told there is no serious or advanced talks for any midfielder for Manchester United," Fabrizio Romano revealed on the well known YouTube fan channel The United Stand.
"So, they have to make a decision whether or not they want to sign a midfielder in January.
"For sure, they [Haidara and Zakaria] are two players that Manchester United are monitoring."
He then added: "They still need to make that key decision if or not [to sign a midfielder this month], how much they want to spend in January and whether they want to just continue with the current team- everything is still open for anything to happen."
One name who has been floated around as a target for both Chelsea and Manchester United alongside the obvious Tchouameni is West Ham midfielder Declan Rice.
Despite the good news on the Tchouameni front for the Blues with the Les Bleus international not being namechecked as a United target, it does seem that Marina Granovskaia and co will face severe competition for the player they will try and make a move to sign in the summer, football.london understands.
"if they go for a midfielder/s in the summer and not January, I'm sure they will go for a bigger name and target [than Zakaria and Haidara]," Romano predicted.
"I think Zakaria is a great player but if they go for a player in the summer, it will be of bigger calibre- let's see.
"Last summer, they were thinking of Camavinga, Ruben Neves and Declan Rice who is a player that they always and still do appreciate.
"So, for the summer it will be a completely different plan."
