Thomas Tuchel leading the race as Liverpool and Man City open talks to sign £42m Midfielder

Thomas Tuchel leading the race as Liverpool and Man City open talks to sign £42m Midfielder…that Liverpool and Manchester City are two of a handful of European heavyweights to open talks over a deal for Aurelien Tchouameni.

Tchouameni, 21, has already made himself a regular at senior level with France’s squad, after shining in the red and white of Monaco recently.

Despite his tender age, the youngster has already played 65 times for Monaco’s first team. His form is attracting the interest of Europe’s biggest.

The report states that Liverpool and Manchester City are interested in the midfielder opening talks and enquiring as to Tchouameni’s asking price.

Indeed, Monaco has informed Liverpool and Manchester City – as well as Madrid, Juventus, and Chelsea that Tchouameni will cost £42million.

The report also states that Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea is leading the race to land the midfielder. Chelsea is willing to pay as much as £51million.

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All three would be brilliant for Tchouameni. Manchester City needs a deep-lying midfielder, with Fernandinho expected to go next summer.

But is as defensively sound as Fernandinho? Probably not. He is more of a midfielder that plays next to Fernandinho, and City has plenty.

Chelsea also has plenty – Jorginho, N’Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic, even the returning Ross Barkley, and Ruben Loftus-Cheek can play in that role.

Signing Tchouameni would stunt the growth of Billy Gilmour too. Liverpool, though, desperately need midfield depth – to replace Gini Wijnaldum.