Barcelona came close to beating Chelsea by signing Jules Conde after agreeing to a 50 million euro deal with Sevilla for the France defender.
Chelsea They thought they won the race To sign Conde last week, but Thomas Tuchel will have to shift his focus to other defensive goals after Barcelona derailed his plans once again. Wesley Fofana is one of Tuchel’s options, although Leicester won’t let the 21-year-old leave unless they receive a big offer for him.
Leicester have a significant amount of leverage after they awarded the Frenchman a new five-year deal in March. Brendan Rodgers needs to sell players before signing this summer, but it is understood the club will demand at least £70m if Chelsea Make a move for Fofana. The asking price could be as high as £85m, which is how much Leicester were able to afford when they sold England centre-back Harry Maguire to Manchester United in 2019.
Chelsea may be reluctant to pay a large fee to Fovana given that he missed last season after breaking his leg last summer. The defender who enjoyed a great first year in England after Leicester Signed by Saint-Etienne For £36.5m in October 2020, he returned from his injury in March.
Tuchel’s concern is that Chelsea’s new system is struggling to respond to the losses of Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid and Andreas Christensen to Barcelona this summer. Chelsea strengthened their defense by signing Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli, but they lost to Bayern Munich in the battle to sign Matthias de Ligt from Juventus, failed to buy Nathan Ake from Manchester City and made little progress in talks with Paris Saint-Germain. On Presnel Kimpembe.
The last blow for Chelsea lost Conde, who can play as a centre-back, right-back and right-back. They had been interested in the 23-year-old since last year and were willing to meet Sevilla’s demands for £55m.
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However, Barcelona, who had previously beaten Chelsea by signing Brazilian winger Ravenha from Leeds, refused to give up Conde despite his withdrawal from the race last Friday. The Catalans experienced significant financial problems, but used economic levers to raise their transfer budget. Barcelona manager, Xavi Hernandez, has made Conde a priority signing.
Chelsea, who shortlisted RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol, Jose María Giménez of Atlético Madrid, Internazionale player Internazionale and Pau Torres at Villarreal at the start of the summer, are frustrated with Barcelona’s behaviour. They could respond by blocking Xavi’s attempts to sign Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso.
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