On Friday, Gianluca Di Marzio announced Nuno Espírito Santo was in advanced talks to become Tottenham’s new manager, and stated his first transfer target for Spurs was Jules Kounde.
That was backed up by ABC Sevilla on Saturday, and it quickly became clear how difficult it would be for the Premier League club to sign the defender.
Manchester City tried to get the Frenchman last summer before they turned their attention to getting Ruben Dias from Benfica. Sevilla weren’t keen on a sale at the figures City offered, around €55m, and that’s thought to be the case again during this transfer window.
Thursday’s edition of Sport says Madrid can’t pay the €80m which is the value of Kounde’s clause, therefore they’re trying to include Isco in any deal. They hope that would bring the cost down to around €40-50m and even at the higher end of that it’s clear Madrid won’t be meeting the €80m, because it’s stated they only value Isco at €25m right now.
Such a deal could still tempt Sevilla, who have been repeatedly linked with the Spaniard in recent months.
Whether Tottenham, who now have Nuno in place, can compete with such an offer remains to be seen.
