Kounde was one that got away from Chelsea, Tuchel admits
Robin Bairner
- 11 Sept 2021 11:13 BST
- 3 min read
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has admitted that his side chased the signature of Sevilla’s Jules Kounde until the last in the summer transfer window.
It was widely expected that a deal would go through that would see Kounde transfer to Chelsea, particularly after Kurt Zouma departed Stamford Bridge for West Ham on Deadline Day.
However, no agreement would be reached between the clubs, although this has not overly concerned Tuchel, who is pleased with what the club achieved over the summer.
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“It was clear we tried for Kounde and Saul and it was very, very late but it was a very, very smooth transfer window because I had full concentration on training and on my team,” the Chelsea boss explained.
“The amount of support of technical and performance advisor Petr Cech as a link, and together with Marina Granovskaia was fantastic, so it was pretty relaxed with a good outcome because in the end it was possible to add Saul into the group, which was a key position for us to have more alternatives and to not put all the pressure on the three guys' shoulders.
“So there's a lot of competition now going on and it's my job to be a good moderator.”
Kounde’s move collapsed because Chelsea were unwilling to meet the release clause in the player’s contract, which stands at €80 million.
“Kounde in the end has stayed because the club has decided that it was the right thing to do based on the evaluation of the offers they may have had,” Sevilla boss Julen Lopetegui told Diario de Sevilla.
Failure to land the France international means that the Blues only signed Romelu Lukaku from Inter and Saul from Atletico Madrid in terms of major signings this summer, though there is already talk that they will go back in for Kounde during the January transfer window.
