Chelsea will need to up their offer for Sevilla star Jules Koundé by nearly €30m if they are to get the Frenchman.
That’s according to Diario de Sevilla, who cover how the Spanish side have no intention of letting their prized asset go on the free.
The newspaper covers the latest findings by the CIES, who have again released their valuations of players and clubs around the world.
Their research has Koundé as the most valuable player in Sevilla’s squad, while he is currently the third most valuable player in La Liga as well.
Extend that to Europe, and he is the seventh in the rankings for defenders, with only established stars such as Virgil van Dijk, Aymeric Laporte and Ruben Dias ahead of him.
Sevilla are ‘aware of his rising price’ and expect it to go ‘even higher’, which is why they made the decision to reject Chelsea’s offer of €50m in the summer.
They will now only consider letting Koundé go in exchange for a sum close to the €80m release clause in his contract.
That means Chelsea will have to significantly improve the offer they made in the summer should they return at any point in the near future.
That remains a distinct possibility given they could lose three central defenders next summer, with Cesar Azpilicueta, Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christiansen all heading towards being out of contract and yet to sign extensions.
Koundé is already on their list and is likely to remain there, although his price tag continues to rise in the meantime.
