There are several reasons why Sevilla star Jules Kounde’s potential move to Chelsea has yet to reach a conclusion despite the personal agreements between the player and the London club, according to Diario AS.
The Spanish outlet claims that the 23-year-old has already agreed to join Chelsea on a five-year deal this summer.
This is hardly a surprise given Kounde was very close to moving to Stamford Bridge, but Sevilla and Chelsea failed to reach an agreement over transfer fees.
This time, however, Chelsea and Sevilla have reportedly been in advanced negotiations with the final deal expected to be between €60million (£51.2m) to €65m (£55.5m).
So, why does the transfer saga drags on despite all of these?
According to Diario AS, there are three reasons.
The first on the list is quite obvious: the recent change of ownership at Chelsea which halted all the transfer negotiations the club worked on for a few months.
The second reason is that Sevilla reportedly insist on signing a new centre-back before selling Kounde, having already sold another defender, Diego Carlos, to Aston Villa earlier this month.
Lastly, AS Monaco star Aurelien Tchouameni’s potential Real Madrid move might reportedly have had slowed down Kounde’s expected Chelsea move.
The report mentioned that Tchouameni and Kounde do not only share the same sports agency; Excellence Sport Nation, but also the same agent in Jonathan Kebe.
Kebe is reportedly now in the process of finalising Tchouameni’s transfer to Real Madrid.
Kounde himself is currently away on international duty with France, alongside Tchouameni.
A potential delayed transfer confirmation arguably should not be that big a problem if, as the report suggested, Chelsea and Sevilla are very close to closing the deal.
Update: Real Madrid have just announced the signing of Tchouameni.
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