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Ex-Man Utd employee: INEOS looking to ‘take advantage’ of Real Madrid fallout by approaching £70m mi

After last night’s El Clásico result confirmed that Barcelona had won the La Liga title and, therefore, that Real Madrid would be going trophyless, some of their key players are sure to be mulling over their futures.

One being Aurelien Tchouameni, who stole the headlines last week for all the wrong reasons.

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Aurelien Tchouameni: The state of play

Indeed, reports out of the Madrid camp have suggested that the midfielder came to blows with his counterpart Federico Valverde in an incident so major that it culminated with the latter being sent to hospital, as well as missing Sunday’s crunch clash.

Federico Valverde & Aurelien Tchouameni in dressing-room fight at Real Madrid training ground. Valverde went to hospital with head injury. Follows altercation 24hrs earlier. #RMFC expected to take action. W/ @GuillermoRai_ @MarioCortegana @TheAthleticFC https://t.co/YYWKTdSKCN

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) May 7, 2026

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The club issued a statement confirming that disciplinary proceedings had been opened against the pair, which resulted in the players each being fined €500,000.

Real Madrid have fined Federico Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni €500,000 (£432,100; $588,520) following Thursday’s dressing-room fight.

Madrid said both players appeared at a disciplinary hearing on Friday, showed “total repentance” for what had happened and apologised to one… pic.twitter.com/YwFgdE2IkI

— The Athletic | Football (@TheAthleticFC) May 8, 2026

Both midfielders have since spoken out to try and diffuse the situation amid growing traction on social media, although their attempts were to little avail.

Reds set sights on Tchouameni swoop

Now, ex-Manchester United chief scout Mick Brown has revealed that the Red Devils may look to act on their long-standing interest in Tchoumeni as he faces an uncertain future at the Santiago Bernabeu.

United have been tracking the Frenchman since he began making a name for himself at AS Monaco, but he rebuffed widespread interest to join Los Blancos in an £85 million deal in 2022.

He put pen to paper on a six-year deal, meaning he is about to enter the penultimate season of his contract in the Spanish capital.

Tchouaméni vision #UCL pic.twitter.com/5Bz2j0ynPI

— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 23, 2026

It’s thought the European giants would demand around £70m to facilitate Tchouameni’s exit this summer, which would fall within United’s budget.

What is Brown hearing about United and Tchouameni?

Brown told Football Insider: “I’m told Man United have been looking at Tchouameni. He’s just had this bust-up with Valverde, so they’ll be keeping an eye on the fallout of that.

“It won’t put them off a move, that’s for sure, because if every club dropped their interest in a player who had an issue in the dressing room, there’d be no targets left.

“These things happen in football; it’s a lot more common than you would think. It’s just not usually as public as it seems to have been at Real Madrid.

“So Man United could look to take advantage of that if there’s any suggestion he could leave, because these issues don’t seem to be going away.”

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