Thomas Tuchel was coy when asked about Chelsea's pursuit of Sevilla defender Jules Kounde.
The Blues have been heavily linked with a move for Kounde over the last 12 months and a deal appeared to be edging closer earlier this week before reports in Spain claimed that the Frenchman had rejected the west Londoners' proposal in favour of a move to La Liga giants Barcelona. football.london understands that Sevilla have denied this speculation and Chelsea supporters have since been anxiously waiting for any updates, hoping that the deal won't have a similar conclusion to Raphinha - who joined the Blaugrana over the Blues earlier this month.
Now, Tuchel has spoken about the need to bring in additional recruits after his side were defeated 4-0 by Premier League rivals Arsenal in Orlando on Sunday morning. "There is no update, no update", he said when asked if there was any update on Chelsea's pursuit of Kounde.
READ MORE: Thomas Tuchel delivers honest verdict on Mikel Arteta's Arsenal following Chelsea defeat
"The analysing of the season does not change because of this game. Unfortunately, it proved my point and the last week proves my point.
"I would prefer to not be right and I did everything to prove myself wrong, but at the moment I feel I was right when I look at the last season and at the parts of the game where we struggled and how we struggled.
"We got sanctioned and players left us, we know that some players are trying to leave us, and this is where it is. We had an urgent appeal for quality players and a huge amount of quality players.
"We've got two quality players – that is no doubt – but we are not competitive like this and unfortunately, we could see it today."
The two incomings that Tuchel referenced have been Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly and English attacker Raheem Sterling, who have joined for a combined £80million this summer, although the former Borussia Dortmund boss clearly thinks the Blues need to make additional reinforcements before their Premier League opener against Everton next month.
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