Chelsea are nowhere close to signing Jules Kounde since their current centre-back Kurt Zouma has refused to join West Ham United, according to The Guardian.
The report claims: “Chelsea’s pursuit of Sevilla’s Jules Koundé has stalled after their attempts to make space in their squad for a new defender were frustrated by Kurt Zouma’s refusal to join West Ham.
“Although the Frenchman is settled in London, he has left West Ham disappointed after indicating that he does not want to join them.
“West Ham had held talks with Chelsea over a fee but they are likely to switch their focus to other targets. David Moyes has looked at the Fiorentina centre-back Nikola Milenkovic.”
Kurt Zouma staying at Chelsea next season?
Initially, Kurt Zouma was offered to Sevilla in a part-exchange deal for Jules Kounde but the Frenchman has refused to join the Spanish side.
Everyone thought that since he is based out of London, he wishes to remain in the Premier League so he is likely to accept West Ham’s offer.
But now that he has rejected this offer as well, Chelsea are in a major mess in terms of bringing in Jules Kounde before the 21/22 season kicks off.
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West Ham United have swiftly shifted their focus to Nikola Milenkovic as they are not ready to waste any more time on Kurt Zouma. But Chelsea’s plans of offering players like Kenedy and Emerson to Sevilla have also hit roadblocks.
Kurt Zouma would have been the perfect player to be offered in a cash-plus-player deal for Jules Kounde but now that he cannot make up his mind, the only other option left for Chelsea will be to offer outright cash and wrap up this transfer.
Sevilla have valued their defender at £60 million and this could prove to be a really steep price since Chelsea are already planning to spend around £100 million on Romelu Lukaku.
