\t\t\t5<\/i><\/p>\n
Manchester United\u2019s pursuit of Real Madrid superstar Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni could be dealt a crushing blow following the latest update from their noisy neighbours in the blue half of the city.<\/p>\n
Dream Target<\/h5>\n
With \u00a385 million already spent to sign Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans from Chelsea and Aston Villa respectively, the Red Devils are still intent on recruiting a third midfielder this summer. <\/p>\n
The loss of Casemiro has been exacerbated by Manuel Ugarte sustaining a potentially season-ending knee injury for Uruguay at the World Cup, leaving Kobbie Mainoo as the only available member of last season\u2019s unit.<\/p>\n
This leaves the engine room without a physical defensive midfielder to function as the team\u2019s anchor, even if many in Brazil believe Santos is the long-term successor to Casemiro for the Sele\u00e7\u00e3o. The 22-year-old Rio de Janeiro native is a versatile operator, however, who can be deployed deeper or in a box-to-box role.<\/p>\n
As such, United remain focused on signing a No. 6 to complete their midfield rebuild \u2013 with Tchouam\u00e9ni, 26, considered the \u201cdream signing\u201d by the Old Trafford hierarchy.<\/p>\n
The Real Madrid star is widely considered one of the best enforcers in Europe, offering a blend of physical and technical attributes which few possess. Both the player and his club are understood to be happy with their working relationship.<\/p>\n
However, The Whites<\/em> are conducting their own midfield revamp this summer. There is a drive to add more control, guile and variety, with a sense that Tchouam\u00e9ni, Eduardo Camavinga and Federico Valverde are too similar.<\/p>\n Bernardo Silva has already been signed on a free transfer, having left Manchester City in June after nine years at the Etihad. But Real want his partner in crime, Rodri, as their next addition \u2013 and they are prepared to sacrifice Tchouam\u00e9ni to fund the pursuit.<\/p>\n While Tchouam\u00e9ni is happy at the Santiago Bernab\u00e9u, and there was an update that he had agreed a contract extension with Real Madrid, he is understood to be open to joining Manchester United if forced to leave.<\/p>\n This had given the Red Devils hope of pulling off a bombshell deal for the France international, particularly as the new deal has not been confirmed yet. If Real Madrid want to sign Rodri, a midfielder has to make way. And while the Spanish giants may prefer that to be Camavinga, the market is not as fruitful for the 23-year-old.<\/p>\n Following Spain\u2019s World Cup triumph, where Rodri was crowned Player of the Tournament, the interest from Real had ramped up \u2013 which, in turn, increases United\u2019s chances of landing Tchouam\u00e9ni.<\/p>\n However, INEOS face the prospect of missing out on another top target this summer after it was confirmed Rodri would be undergoing surgery for a back injury. While it is not a long-term issue, it may potentially see him miss the start of the season.<\/p>\n But it almost certainly kills any chance of Real still making a play, as spending big on a 30-year-old midfielder who has just undergone surgery on his back is a risk few clubs would be willing to take.<\/p>\n Manchester City have already dealt one setback to Manchester United this summer after winning the race for Nottingham Forest talisman Elliot Anderson. If the decision to put Rodri under the knife then rules out a pursuit of Tchouam\u00e9ni, there will be a string of loud expletives heard down the corridors of power at Old Trafford.<\/p>\n Featured image Denis Doyle via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n The Peoples Person has been one of the world\u2019s leading Man United news sites for over a decade. Follow us on Bluesky: @peoplesperson.bsky.social<\/p>\n <\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 5 Manchester United\u2019s pursuit of Real Madrid superstar Aur\u00e9lien Tchouam\u00e9ni could be dealt a crushing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":20999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/20999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Man City ruin another plan<\/h5>\n
Final Thoughts<\/h5>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/thepeoplesperson.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/affiliate-christmas-campaign-25-1500x300-en-uk-min.png\")
<\/p>\n