Thomas Tuchel suggested Chelsea are unlikely to make another attempt to sign Sevilla defender Jules Kounde after Trevoh Chalobah’s emergence as a reliable option.
Kounde, despite playing mostly as a right full-back, the France international is also capable of playing on the right of a back three — the position Tuchel wanted to strengthen in the summer.
Cesar Azpilicueta and Reece James had had to cover centre-back and the right wing-back positions at the same time at that point.
The question now is that will Chelsea be back with an improved offer for Kounde in January? Tuchel does not seem to think so.
The manager told the media during the embargoed section of his press conference on Friday [via Goal]
“I think every transfer period, you need to evaluate again. You cannot say what we wanted in the summer, we do in the winter or the next summer. It is not like this. Your opinion changes, players change, you have evolvement in the group. So you cannot say [because] what we tried in the summer did not happen, so we will try again for sure in the winter.
“Sometimes it is like this if we see the same need, but clearly Trevoh is now here with us, and he deserves to be here with us. It had nothing to do with if we can sign another central defender or not. But he stepped up. The responsibility was even more on his shoulders and he can handle it so far in a very impressive way. This is the situation, and it has an effect on our next decisions in the next transfer period.”
Understandably, Tuchel even openly said he would have to redraw his transfer plans due to the young defender’s unexpectedly quick impact since breaking into the first team. Chelsea might still go after Kounde again when they eventually have to find a replacement for Cesar Azpilicueta.
However, at least thanks to Chalobah, Chelsea are now no longer under pressure to rush their move and have the time to perhaps consider other options in the market.
