Chelsea and Sevilla look like cancelling their Jules Kounde talks as the latest round produces 'no deal' while Todd Boehly's focus has firmly switched to Serie A and Premier League options for Thomas Tuchel's defensive rebuild.
For such a long term, Sevilla's number 23 has always been viewed as someone who would be the perfect fit for Chelsea. This was the view of the old regime with the likes of Marina Granovskaia and others now no longer part of the club. However, the impact of change in ownership and structure was not expected to have such a detrimental effect on the future of the La Liga centre-half but it certainly has panned out this way.
This is because Tuchel himself has his eyes set on the likes of Matthijs de Ligt, Nathan Aké, Kalidou Koulibaly and others to form a big part of the new defensive foundations for 2022/23. It was believed that Kounde would remain a priority still as the Blues boss had pictured using him in a right-wing-back role for the early parts of next season but the price tag has always been the major stumbling block in negotiations between the two clubs.
