Chelsea were in a long pursuit of the French center back Jules Kounde. As the transfer deadline day has passed Chelsea pulled out of the deal. According to the Mirror, Sevilla’s director of football Monchi has offered a withering assessment of Chelsea’s pursuit of Jules Kounde.
Thomas Tuchel was keen on bringing Jules Kounde to Chelsea. This is because Chelsea’s main defenders Thiago Silva, Antonio Rudiger, and Andreas Christensen have only one year left on their contract. Moreover, Kurt Zouma has joined West Ham United. Thomas Tuchel is worried about this defense splitting up next summer.
What happened between Chelsea and Sevilla for Kounde?
Sevilla director Monchi said that Sevilla received only one formal offer from Chelsea. Moreover, it included The Blues selling a player. Further, Monchi claimed that the offer was decent but didn’t meet Sevilla’s criteria. Sevilla wanted Chelsea to pay Kounde’s release clause of £68.7 million. Initially, Sevilla were ready to accept Chelsea’s £50m offer. But suddenly they wanted Chelsea to pay his entire release clause for Kounde.
Chelsea were not willing to pay above the odds. Despite selling Kurt Zouma this summer, Thomas Tuchel is happy with his current defensive options. Previous summer, Manchester City wanted to sign Kounde but they signed Ruben Dias instead for the similar reason. Sevilla were not ready to accept a bid lesser than £68.7m. Meanwhile, Tuchel still wants to bring Kounde to Chelsea.
Meanwhile, Chelsea have signed Atletico Madrid midfielder Saul Niguez on loan. The Blues will pay a £3.4m loan fee to the Spanish champions. Moreover, they have an obligation to buy the Spaniard next summer for £30m.
Saul made his Atletico Madrid debut at the age of 17 back in 2012. He has made over 300 appearances for the champions. He has won two Europa League titles, the Copa del Rey and La Liga with Atletico. Thomas Tuchel believes that Saul would be a great addition to the squad.
It’ll be interesting to see if Chelsea go all out for Kounde in the January transfer window. As three defenders of their defenders enter the final year of their contract and can negotiate with other clubs.
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