No Chelsea talks for Kounde since Friday, says Monchi

Chelsea have not made a formal offer for Jules Kounde since Wednesday and there have been no negotiations since Friday, according to Sevilla sporting director Monchi.

Kounde is reportedly a target of Thomas Tuchel’s men, with Manchester City previously said to be interested, and the centre-back was left out of the trip to Elche on Saturday.

However, Monchi declared in a press conference on Tuesday that the LaLiga outfit have not heard from Chelsea since Friday, their last formal offer being submitted two days prior.

“The only possibility is that they [Chelsea] pay the clause,” Monchi said. “It’s €80million euros. There has been interest from many teams, most of them rejected by the player himself.

“The footballer did like Chelsea. The first offer we received from Chelsea. It was last Wednesday, at five o’clock, with an amount that did not satisfy what we wanted.

“It was important, we did not underestimate the amounts. I had already spoken with the player to tell him that the longer time passed, the more difficult the operation was.

“We responded with a counter-offer to Chelsea and since Friday night there has been no more negotiation.”

When comparing Kounde to Chelsea centre-backs across their respective domestic leagues last term, the Sevilla defender ranked first for clean sheets (15).

Only Antonio Rudiger made more tackles than Kounde (31 to 27), while none of the Blues could top the 22-year-old’s 40 interceptions, 100 clearances or 102 aerial duels won.

Kurt Zouma, Thiago Silva and Andreas Christensen all boasted better passing accuracy than Kounde’s 90.11 per cent, however.

We haven’t spoken with Chelsea since Friday night. We all decided that it was best Jules didn’t travel to Elche. It’s normal for players to be affected by news of any kind. Last year he had the interest from City and now Chelsea this year.#DeadlineDay pic.twitter.com/AtJRXlIi8b

— Sevilla FC (@SevillaFC_ENG) August 31, 2021

Speculation persists, but Monchi remains confident of keeping his defender.

“I don’t think anyone will pay it [the release clause], but there is a time to react,” the Sevilla chief continued.

“The decision not to travel to Elche was made jointly by all parties.

“We asked him if he was 100 per cent to travel, he thought about it and then said yes. But we made that decision.

“Jules is not a superhero, even if he is a great guy or a great professional. It is normal for the player to have some doubts. He did not go on vacation, he is concentrating with France.”