{"id":24553,"date":"2022-07-26T06:00:32","date_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/07\/26\/chelsea-draw-up-five-man-shortlist-as-they-target-jules-kounde-alternative\/"},"modified":"2022-07-26T06:00:32","modified_gmt":"2022-07-26T10:00:32","slug":"chelsea-draw-up-five-man-shortlist-as-they-target-jules-kounde-alternative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/2022\/07\/26\/chelsea-draw-up-five-man-shortlist-as-they-target-jules-kounde-alternative\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea draw up five man shortlist as they target Jules Kounde alternative"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<hr>\n<p>Chelsea have drawn up a five man shortlist of alternatives as they look to recover from their disappointment over missing out on defender Jules Kounde.<\/p>\n<p>The Blues were thought to be close to a deal for the Sevilla defender, but Barcelona have once again swooped in to deny them one of their targets this summer, having already done so for Leeds United winger Raphinha.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Barcelona feelings, again in the same direction: Jules Kound\u00e9, considered \u2018close\u2019 \u2013 he wants the move. Chelsea are already exploring other options, as deal with Sevilla\u2019s stalling since last week. ??? <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/FCB?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#FCB<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Bar\u00e7a official bid expected soon, as personal terms are already agreed. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/HAmRo8HVGc\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/HAmRo8HVGc<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FabrizioRomano\/status\/1551621502734405632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 25, 2022<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>And, while Chelsea are not totally out of the race for his signature, it seems as though the Blaugrana are firmly in the driving seat.<\/p>\n<h2>Chelsea\u2019s alternatives<\/h2>\n<p>As a result, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.90min.com\/posts\/chelsea-consider-alternative-defenders-as-barcelona-threaten-jules-kounde-pursuit\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">90min report<\/a> that Thomas Tuchel and co. have already drawn up a list of five alternatives as they look to strengthen a defence that is currently at least one man light, with only Kalidou Koulibaly arriving to fill the gap left by the departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer.<\/p>\n<p>Pau Torres is thought to be near the top of the list, with the Villareal centre-back having a release clause in his contract making the deal a relatively easy one to achieve.<\/p>\n<p>Inter Milan defender Milan Skriniar and RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol are also under consideration, with RB Leipzig\u2019s interest in Timo Werner potential leverage in a deal for the latter.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1700686\" style=\"width: 1034px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1700686\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1700686\" src=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rb-leipzig-v-paris-saint-germain-group-a-uefa-champions-league-1649670856.jpg\" alt=\"Chelsea draw up five man shortlist as they target Jules Kounde alternative\" width=\"1024\" height=\"665\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rb-leipzig-v-paris-saint-germain-group-a-uefa-champions-league-1649670856.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rb-leipzig-v-paris-saint-germain-group-a-uefa-champions-league-1649670856-300x195.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rb-leipzig-v-paris-saint-germain-group-a-uefa-champions-league-1649670856-768x499.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/rb-leipzig-v-paris-saint-germain-group-a-uefa-champions-league-1649670856-910x591.jpg 910w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\"><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-1700686\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">LEIPZIG, GERMANY \u2013 NOVEMBER 03: Josko Gvardiol of Leipzig in action during the UEFA Champions League group A match between RB Leipzig and Paris Saint-Germain at Red Bull Arena on November 03, 2021 in Leipzig, Germany. (Photo by Stuart Franklin\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Additionally, a pair of Bayern Munich defenders, in the form of Dayot Upamecano and Benjamin Pavard, feature, though Pavard may be an easier deal to complete than that of his teammate, who only joined Bayern last summer.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<h3>Read more:<\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/news\/tuesdays-transfer-rumours-ronaldo-depay-werner-milinkovic-savic-and-more\/\" rel=\"v:url\">Tuesday\u2019s transfer rumours: Ronaldo, Depay, Werner, Milinkovic-Savic and more<\/a><\/h3>\n<h3><a href=\"https:\/\/www.101greatgoals.com\/news\/manchester-united-willing-to-let-cristiano-ronaldo-to-leave-on-loan-this-summer-on-one-condition\/\" rel=\"v:url\">Manchester United willing to let Cristiano Ronaldo to leave ON LOAN this summer, on one condition<\/a><\/h3>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chelsea have drawn up a five man shortlist of alternatives as they look to recover from their disappointment over missing out on defender Jules Kounde. The Blues were thought to be close to a deal for the Sevilla defender, but Barcelona have once again swooped in to deny them one of their targets this summer, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12,7],"tags":[13,14],"class_list":["post-24553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-football","category-sport","tag-football","tag-soccer","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24553\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cyberlego.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}