Chelsea might have sealed the signing of Kalidou Koilibaly but they haven’t fully completed the rebuild of their defensive line quite yet. This is because the club still believe that the likes of Cesar Azplicueta and Marcos Alonso would join Barcelona this summer and if indeed they do join the Catalan club, Tuchel’s side would remain short in defence. And since this might be a likely scenario, according to reports the Blues have regenerated their interest in Jules Kounde and he is a player who has been linked with a move to Chelsea over the past few years.
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Kounde was on the verge to join Chelsea last summer but the club was reluctant to pay the 80 Million Euros release clause in the Frenchman’s contract and hence he remained with Sevilla. The center-back has been one of the best performers of the Spanish club as they qualified for the Champions League for the third season in a row. But his contract is going to expire in 2 years and hence Sevilla are now ready to sell their star player in order to get some considerable cash in the club. According to latest reports, they would accept an offer of around 60 Million Euros, but since these reports have been out, Barcelona has been alerted of this situation and now they are in the race too with Chelsea to sign the defender.
Despite already spending over 100 Million Euros on Raphinha and Lewandowski, the Spanish club are still interested in signing Kounde. It is believed that they would be willing to offer 30 Million Euros and include Memphis Depay in the deal in order to bring the transfer fee down substantially. This is because they are reluctant to pay the entire 60 Million Euros in cash. However, the Blues still remain confident that they are leading the race to sign him and hence in the end it will all come down to the player’s will and it will be interesting to see whether Kounde chooses Barcelona or Chelsea.
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