Chelsea's defensive search has taken another twist since the Kalidou Koulibaly signing after missing out on new Barcelona recruit Jules Kounde.
There was a point recently where the Blues had thought they had beaten the Catalan based club to the punch for the 23-year-old but Xavi's influence once again prevailed as the west Londoners' misery was compounded once more. Kounde's decision to stay in La Liga and snub Chelsea for Barca compounded onto the Ousmane Dembele and Raphinha hurt that was felt in the early parts of the transfer window.
football.london understood that a verbal agreement was in place between the Blues and Sevilla over a £55million deal for the defender plus personal terms done a while ago but a sudden U-turn after a Xavi call meant that Barca prevailed once again. "Xavi is a big reason as to why I’m here. His spiel convinced me, I’m excited to start working with the team," Kounde said in his first in-house interview via The Evening Standard. "It’s clear that we see football in the same way."
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Chelsea have to move on from this Kounde disappointment quickly and with links emerging for the likes of Wesley Fofana, Benjamin Pavard, Denzel Dumfries and others, new owner Todd Boehly prepares to take a proactive approach to appease manager Thomas Tuchel, who recently made an urgent appeal for "quality players".
However, Boehly and the board must learn lessons from the whole Kounde saga to ensure that more misery isn't felt with the likes of Fofana, Dumfries and Pavard respectively.
There must be no 'doubts' over the defensive trio if Chelsea were to put the initial groundwork in. Something that happened with Barca's latest recruit, if Sevilla director Monchi's words are to be taken at face value.
"This would have been the third time we'd have told him no. He's a professional but you have to consider the person as well," Monchi said on the club's eventual decision to let go of their second defensive star this summer after Diego Carlos was sold to Aston Villa.
"On Thursday night Kounde was 'sold' to Chelsea. They began to have doubts and pulled out. Then Barcelona appeared. The first time Alemany got in contact was on Monday.
"We received an offer that was lower than what we had in mind, but we renegotiated with them and reached an agreement for a club-record sale. Chelsea came back again, but Barcelona's offer was better."
That 'doubt' must not be repeated if Chelsea are to move for Fofana, Dumfries or Pavard as the trio plus others are concrete options that Boehly is currently mulling over before making official bids and approaches.
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