Aurélien Tchouaméni, in France's World Cup camp, publicly denied on Monday that he punched teammate Fede Valverde after a Real Madrid training-ground incident — the first time the 26-year-old has addressed the story directly. He told reporters the press had exaggerated the episode and that the club was informed of what happened.
That is why people are searching Tchouaméni now: the denial came in the same week France finalises its squad and prepares to open the World Cup on 16 June. Speaking from the national-team concentration, he dismissed some accounts as "Se dijeron muchas tonterías," and reiterated there were no lingering personal problems with Valverde and that both players remain focused on winning titles with Real Madrid.
Tchouaméni added that he had read reports suggesting a fight and a punch — "Leí que hubo una pelea y que le había dado un puñetazo... Lo que no fue el caso," he said — and that he had apologised to Real Madrid supporters after the episode. He told the France staff the club had been kept informed. Valverde, meanwhile, has publicly said Tchouaméni did not hit him, and the two discussed the matter during a Real Madrid training session in early May.
There are concrete consequences that followed the confrontation the club felt compelled to sanction. A combined fine of 500,000 euros was levied on Tchouaméni and Valverde after the incident, and one report said Valverde was hospitalised with a traumatic brain injury. That same report quoted the club as saying Valverde had struck a table. Those three facts — the fine, the hospital visit, and the club’s table explanation — are the ledger-sheet evidence that turned a locker-room spat into a story that lingered in headlines.
The contradiction sits at the center of the story: Tchouaméni flatly rejects the most serious allegation of physical assault, yet the reported outcome for Valverde is severe. Valverde’s own confirmation that he was not struck by Tchouaméni narrows the narrative, but it does not fully reconcile why the player received hospital treatment or how the club settled on the table account. Tchouaméni, who has been linked in transfer chatter this summer, even to clubs on English lists, continues to attract attention off the pitch — transfer speculation has followed him into the headlines, including a recent note that listed him on a shortlist at Manchester United ( — which makes clearing up the facts more urgent.
On the pitch, Tchouaméni was unequivocal about priorities: he and Valverde share the objective of winning titles with Real Madrid, and he said there is no ongoing personal problem between them. He also made clear what he will do if they meet in competitive international football — "Por supuesto que entonces quiero ganar con Francia. Pero a nivel personal, no hay ningún problema con Fede," he said — signalling that selection will not be affected by the episode and that he intends to pursue France's campaign unabated.
France will open its World Cup on 16 June against Senegal, followed by matches with Norway and Iraq. For Tchouaméni and Valverde the next confirmed overlaps will be on the tournament stage if both progress: the schedules set their teams on distinct group tracks — Uruguay, for example, begins against Saudi Arabia, Cape Verde and Spain — so any direct meeting depends on later rounds. For now, Tchouaméni remains in camp and focused on France’s preparations.
The single consequential question left after his denial is not whether he intends to play for France or win with it — he has said he will — but what actually happened in that training room in early May that resulted in hospital treatment and a half-million-euro fine. Tchouaméni has dismissed the worst claims; the club has offered a version that involves a table; Valverde has said he was not punched. Until Real Madrid or the players provide a full, coherent account, the basic fact that matters most — how a teammate ended up hospitalised — remains unresolved.
