Over the past decade, the French Ligue 1 has become one of the premier producers and developers of young talent in world football. From pacy goalscoring forwards such as Kylian Mbappé to ball carrying midfield maestros in the mould of Tanguy Ndombele and André-Frank Zambo Anguissa, we have seen a number of talented young footballers of different profiles and backgrounds make their name in this league and Aurélien Tchouaméni is no different. The 21 year old French midfielder is one of the hottest young midfield prospects in European football after a season in which he helped Monaco to a third place finish, their highest finish in Ligue 1 since they finished 2nd to PSG in 2017–18. But what makes him such a special player, why does Tchouaméni play so good?
Profile
Standing at approximately 187cm with broad shoulders and long legs, Tchouaméni cuts quite the imposing figure in midfield.
The rangy defensive midfielder’s breakout season saw him being used mainly in a double pivot for Niko Kovač’s Monaco, although he also saw some time in a three man midfield either as the deepest midfielder responsible for shielding the backline or as a box-to-box midfielder on the right of the three.
As seen by this radar from StatsBomb, Tchouaméni profiles as a prototypical defensive midfielder whose first priority is shielding the defence before moving the ball on to more creative teammates. At 21 he already profiles as one of the best ball winners in Europe while also displaying the ability to progress the ball into dangerous areas.
He hasn’t shown much of a willingness to carry the ball over longer distances, and instead prefers to progress the ball with his passing, whether it be by means of line breaking passes to players lurking between the defence and midfield lines, through passes to runners in space, direct switches to the wide areas or even crosses into the box from the wide areas and half-spaces.
Strengths
As mentioned above, Tchouaméni’s main strengths are apparent in the defensive phase. At the tender age of 21, he has already proven to be one of the best ball winners in European football. This is apparent in his advanced metrics (courtesy of fbref) where Tchouaméni ranks in the top percentiles for virtually every defensive metric, showing himself to be a very polished and well-rounded defensive player.
Positional Intelligence
Despite only having been playing senior-level football for three years, Tchouaméni is already able to read the game like a seasoned veteran. This has given him the uncanny knack for “being in the right place at the right time” that many of the best defensive-minded midfielders have and it manifests itself in a myriad of ways, primarily in his interception numbers. Averaging 1.88 interceptions per 90 over the past 365 days, Tchouaméni ranks in the 88th percentile of midfielders. This is due to a combination of his intelligence, mobility and sheer length.
This clip shows Tchouaméni as the deepest midfielder in a 3 man midfield patrolling the space between the midfield and defensive line. As soon as he spots the midfielder shaping to play the ball to the striker’s feet, he is quick to cover the ground and reach out a lanky leg to cut out the pass.
This ability to stop dangerous passes also proves very valuable in transition. In this clip, Nice are in the middle of a transition with forward Amine Gouiri on the ball. Tchouaméni, spotting a runner from midfield, recognizes that Gouiri only has one progressive passing option and immediately cuts it out and regains possession for his side.
Here, although it doesn’t result in him registering a defensive action, Tchouaméni’s ability to delay the opponent’s transition opportunity allows his teammates to recover and cut out the pass. This is an invaluable skill as it means he’s able to allow his side to maintain possession in the final third for sustained periods, an ability that is likely to translate well to more possession-dominant sides.
Even in situations where he appears off balance, Tchouaméni is surprisingly limber for a man his size and can still stick out a foot to cut out a pass to disrupt the opposition’s attack.
This also manifests itself in his ability to cut out low crosses and cutbacks, allowing him to quickly sort his feet out and clear crosses into dangerous areas in the box.
Ball Recoveries
Any defensive midfielder worth their salt needs to be proficient in 50/50 duels all over the pitch and Tchouaméni is no different. He is extremely adroit at recovering loose balls in midfield, ranking in the 86th percentile for ball recoveries among midfielders in the top 5 leagues with 11.81 per 90.
He’s quick to pounce on any loose touches in his defensive third to disrupt the opponent’s attack:
But is also tenacious in recovering loose balls in the middle and final thirds in order to help his side maintain possession higher up the pitch:
This ability is indispensable during periods of sustained opposition attacks as even when he doesn’t win the ball, it can help to alleviate pressure on the team’s defence.
Tackling
Tchouaméni is an excellent tackler at his position, ranking in the 98th percentile for midfielders in the top 5 leagues with 2.85 tackles won per 90. With a unique blend of size, strength, timing and coordination, he is quite adept at cleanly dispossessing attackers on a regular basis.
His gangly legs bear an uncanny resemblance to Inspector Gadget’s Go Go Gadget Legs and that, in combination with an innate sense of timing, allows him to stretch one gangly leg out and come away with the ball while a frustrated attacker protests to the referee in vain.
This is even more impressive during defensive transitions, as he has the mobility to recover to the attacker while also possessing the balance and coordination to stay on his feet and poke away the ball to disrupt the opponent’s fastbreak opportunity, all without needing to commit a rash challenge.
Tchouaméni is also able to use this to cut out breaks before they even begin, doing so here against PSG to immediately regain possession in the attacking third and giving Monaco a chance to restart their attack quickly in a dangerous area.
Passing Progressiveness and Variety
Tchouaméni’s top-tier defensive acumen means he’ll always be a useful player at the highest level of professional football but it’s his passing that truly gives him a world-class ceiling. Although it’s not quite as refined as his expertise on the other side of the ball, he has already shown glimpses of being a very expansive and ambidextrous passer with a variety of passes in his arsenal.
He’s capable of putting in accurate crosses on his right foot:
As well as on his weaker left foot:
When given the space and time to pick his head up, he’s also shown the ability to play long passes over the top to forwards making runs into depth.
Tchouaméni is also able to break lines with passing by finding teammates in pockets of space between the lines, zipping balls to feet with pace with just one or two touches:
He’s also shown the ability to disguise these line-breaking passes, making them more difficult for defenders to intercept. Here, he draws the defender in with a touch toward his own goal, before hitting an off-balance pass right into the feet of his teammate in the vacated space.
But that’s not all! He’s also got the ability to play direct switches to the wide areas,
through balls to split the defence,
and even little acrobatic flicks around the edge of the box to keep the ball moving:
Overall, Tchouaméni has shown that he’s got the willingness and technique to progress the ball with his passing as well as the technique to do so even when under pressure.
Weaknesses
Despite still being a very young player who is nowhere near his prime, Tchouaméni doesn’t have any glaring holes in his game. Any vulnerabilities he has have less to do with technical or physical limitations but rather are either a result of inexperience or simply his style of play.
Ball Security
Although he’s shown a very diverse repertoire of passes, Tchouaméni’s passing is still a little inconsistent at the moment.
This tends to manifest itself during sustained periods of possession during which he may underhit passes when looking to retain possession as opposed to when he’s looking to progress the ball.
This isn’t too big an issue though, as it’s not shocking for a young inexperienced player to have momentary lapses of concentration. They also tend to occur occasionally in the aftermath of him winning the ball back. This reinforces the idea of this being down to the typical issues of concentration that younger players have, as he sometimes switches off briefly when making more routine passes.
Tchouaméni’s switches of play definitely need work though. Although he’s shown the ability to pull them off, his decision-making in terms of when to attempt them can be a bit spotty as he may sometimes attempt them when a defender is close enough to the intended recipient to intercept it.
As this is mainly due to decision-making, I’m confident that it is something he should be able to figure out with more experience.
Carrying
Despite his balance and mobility, Tchouaméni isn’t much of a ball carrier.
On the rare occasion where he attempts to carry the ball over larger distances, he seems fairly uncomfortable. His gangly physique sometimes results in him getting the ball caught under his feet, leading to him being easily dispossessed.
Again, I wouldn’t be too concerned about this, as he’s so capable at progressing with his passing that an inability to carry over longer distances isn’t much of an issue.
Heavy first touch
One that does concern me a little is Tchouaméni sometimes seems fairly uncomfortable receiving under pressure higher up the pitch, something which can lead to a heavier first touch that makes him easier to dispossess.
This is a fairly common issue for young defensive midfielders who aren’t used to playing for bigger teams that usually see more of the ball. Even some of the best DMs in the world struggled with this early in their careers, from N’Golo Kanté to Casemiro. This leads me to believe that it is simply a matter of gaining more experience in a more possession-oriented side, as the two examples mentioned above have shown that it is something that a player can improve as they gain more exposure to playing in different midfield roles.
Defensive Gambling
Due to his front foot style of defending, there are times when Tchouaméni attempts to win the ball back aggressively and ends up getting caught out. This rarely happens as he’s quite mature in his defensive decision-making, but it can still cause occasional issues especially against teams who are adept at exploiting any positional indiscipline or or possess players who are very good dribblers.
In this clip, he steps out to the player in possession despite being too far away to win the ball back. This results in the attacker behind him having ample space to receive in, while the player in possession still has more than enough time to play an incisive pass into a dangerous area.
He manages to recover and force the attacker wide but it’s still something he’ll need to work on.
In the next clip, Tchouaméni initially does a very good job of showing Aouar out wide where he’s less dangerous. However, Aouar is able to take advantage of Tchouaméni’s aggressive style to draw foul in a situation where he had no real options to retain possession. Lyon ended up scoring on the resulting free kick.
However as stated earlier, situations like this are far from a regular occurrence for Tchouaméni. His general maturity in the defensive phase means these situations are few and far between and they will most likely become even more rare with experience.
Next stop for the Tchou Tchou train?
Tchouaméni has been linked heavily to a move to Chelsea since January, a move that seems to be inspired by Thomas Tuchel’s admiration for the young midfielder. He’s also seen some recent links to Allegri’s Juventus as a possible alternative to Sassuolo’s Manuel Locatelli. Both moves would constitute a massive step up for Tchouaméni’s career, as these are two sides that consistently challenge for the biggest honours (one of which is the current Champions of Europe).
In terms of fit and progression, Tchouaméni would probably be best served moving to Chelsea. With a settled midfield core of Kanté, Jorginho and Mateo Kovačić, there would be less pressure for him to immediately step in as a consistent starter. Instead he could be slowly introduced into the side as a rotational option especially with Kanté needing to be managed more carefully on a game to game basis. With Jorginho and Kanté being 29 and 30 years old respectively, Tchouaméni would also be poised to succeed one of them as a part of a new core of young midfielders which would also include the likes of future captain Mason Mount and the gifted Billy Gilmour.
Conclusion
Tchouaméni is a part of one of the most gifted generations of French midfielders of the past two decades. With his blend of size, mobility, defensive intelligence and progressive passing, he would be an excellent acquisition for a number of top teams all over Europe and at just 21 years of age, he looks to be a player who could be one of the best midfielders in world football within the next 4 or 5 years. With the poor finances of many of the European powerhouses, Tchouaméni would be a very opportunistic acquisition for a club like Chelsea with an aging midfield, as they may not be his only suitors if he remains at Monaco for another year.
