Chelsea's pursuit of Sevilla defender Jules Kounde has come to an end, according to Italian football journalist Fabrizio Romano.
The Blues have been interested in signing the 22-year-old for the last few weeks, but the Spanish club have recently increased their asking price.
Thomas Tuchel 's side have made it clear that they did not want to pay Kounde 's £68million release clause, but Sevilla would only sanction a move for the France international if that fee was paid.
When Kurt Zouma officially joined West Ham United for almost £30m on Sunday, it looked almost certain that Kounde would come to Stamford Bridge as his replacement.
However, a deal for Kounde is now said to be off and Chelsea fans have been asking the same question: why did the club sell Zouma?
Sevilla's sporting director Monchi said earlier on in transfer deadline day that Chelsea did have plenty of interest in Kounde, but a deal was never struck.
“There are possibilities that he could leave between now and 00.00, the same as his teammates have because of his clause,” Orgullo de Nervion report him saying.
“Yes, there has been interest from a club that the player liked, which was Chelsea.
“The first formal offer we received was on Wednesday, with an amount that dd not satisfy our requirements and conditional on Chelsea selling a player.
“We responded with a counter-offer that had an expiry date, which was Friday. Since Friday, until now, there has been no contact whatsoever with Chelsea.
“To the first offer for Koundé, we answered with an idea of our own. Everyone looks after their own interests, and the club has respected one hundred per cent when there has been interest from other teams, and the player didn’t think it was convenient.
“Koundé’s clause has never been 90 million euros, but 80 million euros.”
