Yet to spend a penny this transfer window, Chelsea are about to kickstart their summer late on in grandiose fashion with the arrival of Romelu Lukaku.
That deal appears to be almost done, with the Belgian already passing his medical ahead of the move, but the question now is: what comes after?
For quite some time now, it’s been clear that Thomas Tuchel wants a new centre-back at the club, with Kurt Zouma the likely sacrifice to make space for him.
While a few names have sporadically been linked, none have been as consistent as Jules Koundé’s, currently contracted to Sevilla.
Various reports of offers being made surfaced not too long ago, but either they were never official or they didn’t tickle Monchi’s fancy, who will have the final say as director of football.
What the hope is, as reported by Diario De Sevilla on Monday, is that once the Lukaku deal is sorted, Chelsea will turn their attention to Koundé.
At the moment, they say, ‘there is nothing new from London’ but once the striker situation is sorted and official, the defender ‘could focus the activity of the negotiations’.
In Sevilla, ‘they are convinced that this will be the case’, so the whispers they are hearing are that Marina Granovskaia and co. still want the Frenchman.
We’ll have to wait and see, but the lack of movement for Koundé of late seems to have been Lukaku related more than anything else.
