Italian transfer expert Gianluca Di Marzio has recently claimed that Chelsea have reached an agreement with Sevilla over the transfer fee for Jules Kounde, but a report from Spain denied the reported figure.
According to Di Marzio, the 22-year-old is expected to join Chelsea in a deal worth around €50million (£42.7m) plus add-ons.
That is obviously a surprisingly low figure given previous rumours about the release clause in the defender’s contract with Sevilla.
Diario AS, who previously reported that the release clause has risen from €80m (£68.4m) to €90m (£77m) in the last 15 days of the transfer market, has interestingly made a response to Di Marzio’s claim.
The Spanish media pointed out that Chelsea and Sevilla have begun negotiating since Wednesday, but their sources insisted that there has been no agreement for such a sum.
Instead, they suggest the aforementioned €50m figure was the initial offer from Chelsea.
Diario AS also highlighted that Sevilla previously turned down an offer worth €55m (£47m) for Kounde from Manchester City two years ago.
While Sevilla are reportedly willing to sell for less than €80m, it seems that they would still expect to reach a deal worth closer to the player’s release clause.
Chronicle view
To be fair, it is still possible that both clubs might have agreed an initial fee of €50m, but with relatively big add-ons.
Diario AS also mentioned that Kounde has already agreed a five-year deal on personal terms with Chelsea, suggesting that the transfer is still likely to materialise at this point.
Meanwhile, the Blues are reportedly still trying to offload Kurt Zouma to make space for Kounde’s potential arrival.
Unfortunately, Zouma’s transfer saga is also in a difficult situation due to some agent issues (per Fabrizio Romano).