Chelsea could still hypothetically land long-term target Jules Kounde amid Barcelona worry as £85million Wesley Fofana stalemate with Leicester City continues.
The Blues, despite the smart £34m acquisition of Kalidou Koulibaly, are on the lookout for a new central defender as planning for the long-term future of the club is on the agenda for the new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly. This hasn't just been demonstrated by what Thomas Tuchel has said but also with the many acquisitions made for the youth team and academy set-up with Inter Milan's Cesare Casadei the next through the doors.
"We could use one more central defender; if you look at the numbers and that we play with a back three. The profile of the guys in the three is a little bit different, I admit," manager Tuchel said in a recent press conference. "We can play with Azpi (Cesar Azpilicueta), who is more a full-back than a central defender. (Marc) Cucurella, it's possible too [to play on the side of a back three]. Both of them cannot play as the middle central defender. So we could use one more central defender. Let's see what happens."
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Since these quotes came out, Boehly and Clearlake have been working around the clock to try and prise dream signing Wesley Fofana out of Leicester City. football.london understands that the Blues have seen two bids turned down with £85m required if the Foxes are to entertain selling their 21-year-old star at this late stage of the transfer window.
The player himself is starting to grow frustrated at the stalemate with less than two weeks to go and it's expected that this one could go right down to the wire. Can Chelsea afford that risk? They may be able to as the player has been left out of the squad for Leicester's upcoming game against Southampton but that was Brendan Rodgers' decision. The Athletic have reported that no third bid is imminent as of now.
Alternatively, previous target Kounde finds himself in a similar predicament to one Andreas Christensen was in whereby he could have technically left the club at the end of the month due to their inability to register players due to La Liga's financial restrains.
Thankfully, from their perspective, they were able to register Christensen and the large majority of their new signings for their Rayo Vallecano opening fixture but the 23-year-old is an exception to this so far.
Amid their difficulties to convince Frenkie de Jong to leave, Barca continue to struggle to register the former Sevilla man and if he isn't registered by the end of the month, he has a certain clause that could put Chelsea back on the table.
This is because as per Cadena SER have reported, the Les Bleus international has a break clause in his contract that would allow him to walk away at the end of this month. With the World Cup fast approaching, he cannot just waste time with competition for places in Didier Deschamps' squad intense.
So, in a full circle moment, as it stands, Chelsea could still hypothetically land Kounde by September 1 if Barcelona do not get their situation sorted in time.
Chelsea fans - if you had a choice now between the free signing of Jules Kounde or the £85m acquisition of Wesley Fofana, who would you choose and why? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!
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