Real Madrid’s Salary Demands Are Blocking a Tchouameni Move to Man United

Manchester United’s search for a central midfielder has hit another wall, and this time the problem isn’t just the transfer fee. It’s the wages.

Fabrizio Romano reports that while the club still sees Aurelien Tchouameni as a dream signing — the kind of long-term Casemiro replacement INEOS has been chasing for years — the financial reality is giving them serious pause. Tchouameni currently makes a lot of money at Real Madrid, and he’d want something similar at Old Trafford. United’s brass considers that too rich for their blood right now.

This is the same window where United already passed on Elliot Anderson because of the price tag, then watched Mateus Fernandes head to Tottenham for a flat £85 million. West Ham wanted all cash, no add-ons. United blinked. Spurs didn’t. Same old story, different name.

So now the focus shifts back to Madrid, where the squad is honestly packed. They’ve already added Denzel Dumfries, Ibrahima Konate, Marc Cucurella and Bernardo Silva this summer. Jose Mourinho is back and still wants another center-back plus another midfielder. Something has to give.

Romano put it bluntly on his channel: “They need exits. The squad is very big now, and they need exits. This is the message coming from Real Madrid.”

You’d think that lines up perfectly for United. Madrid needs to sell. United needs to buy. Tchouameni fits the profile. But here’s where it falls apart.

“Tchouameni is a dream signing for Man Utd, they love the player,” Romano said. “But at the moment, the financials of the deal are considered still too high. Because also the salary, it’s not just about Real Madrid, it’s also about the salary, his wages are considered too high.”

The only way this gets done, according to Romano, is if Tchouameni agrees to a completely different salary structure. “At the moment that’s not something that’s happening.”

United has already brought in Ederson from Atalanta this summer, but they clearly need more bodies in the middle of the park. The problem is they keep running into the same problem — they want top-tier talent but they’re not willing to pay top-tier wages for it. That tension isn’t going away.

Whether Tchouameni eventually budges on his wage demands, or United finds another target, or they just roll with what they’ve got, remains to be seen. But right now the dream is on hold because of the price tag.