Chelsea’s hopes of signing Jules Koundé from Sevilla may have been given a significant boost after the Spanish side’s president José Castro admitted they need to sell this summer.
The Blues are long-term admirers of Koundé and came close to signing him last summer, only for Sevilla to resist and insist his release clause be paid.
Chelsea could not afford to do that after paying €100m to sign Romelu Lukaku and pulled out of a deal, leaving Koundé in Spain for another year.
Their interest has not gone away, though, and with Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger leaving this summer, they need to sign a new centre-back for their squad.
If they are to get him, they’ll find themselves negotiating with Sevilla once again, although it seems this summer the Spanish side will be more desperate for money than last, with Castro admitting as much, words which will be music to Chelsea’s ears.
“It is clear to everyone that in the last few summers, we have not sold,” Mundo Deportivo report him saying.
“To be able to support this team’s budget, we need to sell. In January, in addition to having offers and not selling, we brought in Tecatito and Martial. We will have to balance our accounts.
“We know how to do it well and that when there are departures, players will come to give us future performance and economic performance. We always have a better squad than the previous one; why not next season?
“We will make changes, but we will have the best squad to achieve our objectives. It is normal that there are rumours and concerns, but this president will not allow that to be talked about in the club.”
