Thanks to West Ham, Sevilla is officially out of the Europa League competition. It’s hard to believe that east London’s top four fighters have sent La Liga title contenders packing in the round of 16. This provides a problem for Sevilla, but it also provides a couple of issues for Chelsea.
Jules Kounde has been given a state of the firey pace and strength of the Premier League, and he has failed the test. Chelsea is still confident in signing the centre-back, given that their transfer window does open in time for negotiations to resume. After failing to keep a clean sheet against our London Rivals, the doubt is starting to prevail amongst the Chelsea fan base.
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Chelsea remains stagnant in their hopes for their transfer nightmare to end. The Blues are still prohibited from signing new players and renewing contracts. Despite the shortlist for a new owner being confirmed, they will have to wait until before any positive news is confirmed.
With that being said, their pursuit of Jules Kounde just got interesting. While he looks the perfect talent to replace Andreas Christensen, a Chelsea fan's biggest fear is a new signing not doing so well against Premier League opposition.
We've seen it with Timo Werner, whose form dropped drastically from his RB Leipzig days. We've seen it from the likes of Tiemoue Bakayoko and Juan Cuadrado. The disappointment is what hurts the most.
Of course, one loss doesn't signify danger. However, Kounde's battle against Michail Antonio is one to keep an eye on. The Frenchman was unable to tag Antonio for the entire night. Despite his best attempts, it was a challenging game as it would be up against any striker with Antonio's profile.
His physicality hides his ability to be discreet. West Ham's first goal was the result of Kounde being unable to close down Aaron Cresswell and the Jamaican forward, who subsequently chips the ball into the penalty area to meet the head of Tomas Soucek.
To be fair, If I were to scrutinise all the defences that have faced the wrath of West ham this season, Liverpool's and Manchester City would be on that list along with Chelsea's. It's not fair to judge his individual quality, but it makes you wonder. Should Chelsea have made an effort to keep Christensen after all? As relaxed as they've been with renewing his contract, could this bite Marina Granovskaia in the backside?
It's a strange time for Chelsea fans. We're going into a state of the unknown with a brand new owner on the way. We could also be stepping into another realm with a 24-year-old centre-back who is yet to feel the full volume of Premier League football.
If you'd asked me how much I wanted Kounde at this club two months ago, I would have told you that I am desperate for him. But now that everything is changing, like many Chelsea fans out there, I am second-guessing every move we could make.
