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La Liga giants Sevilla have turned down Chelsea’s opening player-plus-cash bid for French defender, Jules Kounde; however, they are open to selling him if the Blues meet their asking price.

According to the reports from Spain, Chelsea boss, Thomas Tuchel is keen to add a new defender to his team and had identified Kounde as his no.1 transfer target.

The Champions League holders have contacted the Spanish side over a deal and offered them £30million plus Kurt Zouma.

Although Sevilla’s director of football, Monchi is a fan of the Frenchman, Marca claims that Spanish giants have rejected Chelsea’s opening bid. However, talks are still going on between the two parties.

Chelsea are demanding £25m for Zouma, bringing the total value of the deal to roughly £55m. However, that is still a long way short of Kounde’s £68m release clause.

La Liga giants could be prepared to accept slightly less than that, as they are restricted in signing a replacement following to rules in Spanish top-tier, and their preference is to receive money and no player in exchange.

The Spanish side paid £20m to Bordeaux for Kunde in 2019, and they are planning to receive in return a higher value.

The Blues will need to significantly raise up the cash portion of their proposed offer, while it is also possible they could find another buyer for their player and put the money towards a straight-cash offer for Kounde.

The Frenchman, who was part of Didier Deschamps’ national team for Euro 2020, is believed to be keen on working with Thomas Tuchel and agreeing on personal terms want to be an issue.

Chelsea have so far failed to make any new additions this summer, with Dortmund also refusing to sell Erling Haaland, though there is optimism that the Blues could reach with Sevilla over Kounde.

Chelsea another target Raphael Varane has already made a switch to Premier League as he has signed for Manchester United in a £34m deal from La Liga giants Real Madrid and now Kunde has been the top target for Chelsea.