Chelsea may reportedly have to remain patient if they wish to sign Sevilla defender Jules Kounde.
Although Kalidou Koulibaly has already moved to the Premier League giants, head coach Thomas Tuchel is keen to add at least one more center-back to his squad.
With Chelsea having missed out on Matthijs de Ligt, they are now turning their full attention to trying to sign Kounde.
Several reports have indicated that Sevilla is willing to agree on a deal with the Blues as soon as possible. The West Londoners said to be happy to pay in the region of £55m.
However, according to Cadena COPE journalist Victor Navarro, Kounde is willing to give Barcelona a period to meet his and Sevilla’s demands.
Earlier this week, Barcelona president Joan Laporta indicated that he was ready to try to sign at least one new defender for head coach Xavi.
Laporta said: “Now it’s time to work on defense. Xavi has us focused on a series of players, and I hope the Catalans can take some more joy.”
Despite Barcelona’s well-documented financial issues, they have still managed to make four high-profile additions during the summer transfer window.
It is unclear whether the Catalan outfit is prepared to match Chelsea’s proposal or put forward an offer with a different structure.
Meanwhile, it is claimed that Sevilla’s preference would be to move forward with Chelsea’s offer with sporting director Monchi looking to sign new players ahead of the new campaign.
According to Jacob Steinberg of The Guardian, Barcelona has asked Kounde to give them time to meet Sevilla’s requests.
However, it is currently unknown how long Barcelona will take to put forward an official bid; the La Liga giants are aware that a delay did not hinder their efforts to beat Chelsea to Raphinha earlier in the summer.
The 23-year-old has already seemingly confirmed that he would depart the club this summer, while he has been left out of the squad for Sevilla’s upcoming friendly.
