With just a few days left of the summer transfer window, Chelsea are still no nearer to signing Sevilla’s Jules Kounde than they were a few weeks ago when reported interest first surfaced.
The situation has become much more urgent for the Blues now, given that Thomas Tuchel has seemingly acceded to Kurt Zouma’s switch to West Ham United going through.
At 22, Kounde is already an accomplished and experienced member of Julen Lopetegui’s Sevilla side, and the La Liga outfit would certainly be the poorer were he to move on.
However, Sevilla president, Jose Castro, hasn’t accepted that that will be the case.
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“At the moment Kounde is a Sevilla player,” he was quoted as saying by Estadio Deportivo and cited by the Daily Star.
“What we have done this year is to reinforce, we’ve signed six footballers. We want to have a powerful team.
“We always study the offers that may come. But the days are running out, for now there is nothing.”
At such a late stage in proceedings, one has to question whether there’s actually enough time to get a deal over the line now.
The Andalusians will need to replace the player were they to allow him to move on, and, so far, it’s very quiet on that front, indicating that Sevilla haven’t considered the possibility.