Robert Moreno: “Tchouaméni is very clear that he wants to be a great footballer”

The Real Madrid has the signing of Aurélien Tchouaméni on the way for a price that would be around 80 million euros. Amount that in Monaco they would accept after knowing that the white team has enough money after the fiasco with Kylian Mbappé.

The midfielder will leave the Principality after two and a half years in which he has proven to be one of the players of the future. And it has not been easy since as soon as he arrived, in January 2020, Aurélien it was a diamond to be polished. A job that was signed from the beginning by the person who commissioned his signing: Robert Moreno.

The Spanish coach arrived at Monaco weeks before and the first thing he found at the club was the absence of a sports directorso the Catalan had to also assume the tasks of ‘manager’ and drew up a list of positions to reinforce. The highest priority was to shore up the midfield since in the summer an important gap was going to remain due to the casualties of Adrian Silva (in the last year of the contract) and Bakayoko (on loan from Chelsea).

Moreno made a list of three players and went up to the president’s office Dmitry Rybolovlev. there they were Youssouf Fofana, Tomáš Souček and Aurélien Tchouaméni. The first entered the final casting for being a player with immediate performance, the second was a good option for being released from West Ham that summer (later renewed) and the next reinforcement Madrid appeared as an option for the future, although something green was stilljust as it could be seen in the Girondins de Bordeaux.

But Moreno took up the challenge and bet on the youth of the Ruan footballer. “Tchouameni seemed like a strategic signing to me because of the growth potential and immediate performance that in my opinion it could offer us,” the coach tells AS.

As there is no sports director, it is the Spanish coach who is in charge of convincing him. “For him to come I had to call him and convince him with my French, which at that time was learned by forced marches.”

Tchouaméni lands in Monaco at the end of the winter market and in the first game he showed his desire to succeed and do well, but he also left clues of the work to be done when as soon as he entered he made a transfer that almost cost his team a goal. “I remember him turning around and asking me for forgiveness. Aurélien is a boy who is very clear that he wants to be a great footballer. He is very involved and always transmits his desire to learn”.

Robert Moreno sees the potential and desire, but decides tackle those age-related problems with exercises on the sidelines. “I remember that we had to carry out a specific job with him to profile himself well. Cesc was always ahead of him, although he was not stronger than him. The boy had an enormous desire to learn, but he made mistakes typical of youth, ”she reveals.

Moreno’s era at Monaco ended in the summer of 2020 and Tchouaméni continued to grow in the club until he got eight goals and seven assists in the 95 games disputed and become one of the players with the greatest future. And now Robert Moreno feels proud to have been part of Aurélien’s growth: “He is the profile of the young man with whom I like to work, like Raúl Torrente (Granada), Isma Ruiz (Granada), Dani Olmo (Leipzig), Pau Torres (Villarreal) or Jean Marcelin (Monaco). People involved and willing to sacrifice what was necessary to grow and be great footballers. Apart from quality, they had the desire”.