Juventus looking to beat Chelsea, all others to Tchouaméni signing — report

While Chelsea did not make an approach for Aurelien Tchouaméni in the summer, the 21-year-old midfielder is said to be a long-term target of the club, and there’s a good possibility that we will attempt a move at some point in the near future.

We’re of course hardly alone with interest in the highly promising midfielder, with plenty of watchful eyes from across Europe on him. And some of those plans may be more advanced than ours already.

For example, according to Tuttosport (via Sport Witness), Juventus have already started discussions about a January move, hoping to steal a march on all potential rivals for his signature — and before those rivals could tempt him with better offers and salaries. Juve are apparently even willing to offload one of Weston McKennie or Adrien Rabiot, or even Aaron Ramsey in order to fund the move. Meanwhile, Liverpool are already starting to make some noise as well, seeing him as a successor to Georginio Wijnaldum, who left last summer.

Tchouaméni’s price tag seems to be around €35-40m, which may still be a relative bargain, especially when one considers the nine-digit sum that West Ham United continue to ask for Declan Rice (with even free-spending Manchester United apparently looking elsewhere for now).

The Chelsea squad may look pretty well set at the moment, but we’re also in the market for talented players who can upgrade the team, and Tchouaméni may just be someone like that — even if Ruben Loftus-Cheek continues his re-emergence and Conor Gallagher continues his terrific form on loan at Crystal Palace.