Jules Kounde could still come to Chelsea.
According to transfer news from 90min (h/t Football.london), Chelsea could have to shell out an eye-watering £88m for Jules Kounde. While the defender might have a release clause of £68m, paying that full amount will result in FFP issues. But, paying it over instalments will add another cool £20m to the amount taking it to £88m in total.
Chelsea are getting serious about their transfers. Romelu Lukaku has been re-signed from Inter Milan for a club-record fee. However, that might not be the only big-money signing for Chelsea this summer. Jules Kounde is a name they are looking to add to the defence but a deal for him looks complicated.
Initially, Chelsea were willing to offer Kurt Zouma in part-exchange. That has not worked out as Zouma is not keen to move to Spain. Sevilla were keen on Zouma also and the exchange would have reduced Kounde’s price to a modest €45m. (h/t The Guardian)
However, Kounde’s release clause stands at a solid £68m. If Chelsea try to pay the full amount in one go, they run the risk of breaching Financial Fair Play rules.
As a workaround, Chelsea asked about a deal to be paid in instalments over the years. The problem with that is Sevilla will now ask for £20m more than the release clause, taking the cost to sign Kounde towards £88m. The Blues are not opposed to paying a bit extra but it is understood that the club have second thoughts over that substantial hike.
For now, Chelsea are still in talks with Sevilla to get a deal done. Kounde remains keen on a move to Chelsea as well. This deal is no doubt proving very difficult to pull off, lest we say an expensive one.
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