Report: Player to stay at current club despite having agreed personal terms with Chelsea

Add as preferred source on Google

Sevilla expect Jules Kounde to stay at the club as Chelsea continues to cool down their interest in the centre-back, according to Diario AS.

The Spanish outlet claims that Chelsea have agreed personal terms with the 22-year-old, but are still reluctant to meet Sevilla’s demand.

Kounde’s release clause which is initially worth €80million (£68.7m) has also now reportedly risen to €90m (£77.3m) during the last 15 days of the transfer market, from 16-31 August.

Interestingly, according to the report, Chelsea have never really shown that they are prepared to pay Sevilla’s asking price and always tried to involve a player in the potential deal.

Thomas Tuchel’s decision to keep Trevoh Chalobah in the squad might have also affected the situation.

Tuchel seems to consider Chalobah as a right centre-back option, similar to Kounde.

The Telegraph claims that a late Kounde bid from Chelsea is still a possibility at this point. However, Chelsea want to sell a defender, likely Kurt Zouma, before making any firm bid for the Sevilla defender, the report claims.

Tottenham Hotspur are reportedly among clubs interested in Zouma, but similar to Chelsea, they are also looking to offload one of their defenders before bringing another one in.

Chronicle view

A new right centre-back does not seem to be a priority for the Blues this summer, with Chalobah, Cesar Azpilicueta, Reece James and even Andreas Christensen all capable of playing in this position.

But Chelsea will eventually need to find a replacement for Azpilicueta, whose contract expires next summer. Kounde certainly ticks a lot of boxes as a replacement candidate.

So even if Kounde stays at Sevilla this season, it is likely that the transfer saga continues until next summer.