Chelsea put in £50m January bid for long-term defensive target after learning of Barca’s offer

Chelsea intervened with Barcelona’s transfer bid for Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde in January

According to Italian publication TuttomercatoWEB (h/t Football.London), Chelsea had intervened Barcelona in their pursuit to sign Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde after they made a bid in the January transfer window. He was recently sent off during his side’s 1-1 draw against Espanyol in La Liga.

Kounde has been heavily linked with a move to Stamford Bridge for quite some time. However, Barca had also shown interest in securing his services as they tried to facilitate a signing last month. They put in a £41.5million bid in January, but a transfer never came to fruition in the end.

Marina Granovskaia responded with an improved offer of £50million upon getting wind of things. However, Julen Lopetegui’s side refused to entertain any approaches for both the parties. They are holding out for a “slightly” better sum ahead of the summer transfer window.

Should Chelsea be wary?

The 23-year-old has been a long term-target for us, having been subjected to a failed approach from the Blues last summer. We could not reach an agreement with the Sevillistas as they priced us out of a transfer right at the end. And it seems that we have retained our interest in the defender.

The Blaugrana side’s entry would be slightly concerning for the Blues. One of the biggest clubs in the world, Barca would also provide Kounde with the luxury of not having to relocate his life to another country, which would be the case if he were to move to Chelsea.

But it remains to be seen if Lopetegui’s team will decide to strengthen one of their direct rivals in the league. Moreover, the Catalan club’s dire financial situation could also be a factor to consider heading into the summer transfer window.

Since there is the risk of a potential centre-back crisis unravelling at the end of this campaign, we must finalise a transfer for the La Liga superstar at all cost. Cesar Azpilicueta, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger are in line to become free agents next summer.

With us selling Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi last summer, it doesn’t fare well for us that we could now lose three more talented centre-backs.

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Moreover, we also would need to replace Thiago Silva eventually in the future. The France international could be just what we need in this case, given his potential and age profile. But it remains to be seen how the financial side of this deal unravels in the summer- something which has been a thorn in our pursuit of the ex-Bordeaux man.