The truth is that while Chelsea were forbidden to fix contracts or sign players, the other clubs got down to work. This cast doubt on the permanence of several players at the club, such as N’Golo Kante, Jorginho, Romelu Lukaku, Christian Pulisic, Marcos Alonso, Cesar Azpilicueta, and several others.

While Antonio Rudigerand Andreas Christensen made the decision not to wait for the government ban to expire and chose not to renew their contracts with Chelsea and become free agents as of July 1. To seek to replace the players who will leave and be able to sign top players to compete at the elite level again, it is believed that Boehly will provide a £200 million budget to Thomas Tuchel. And it seems that the German coach already knows on whom he will spend the first millions.

Chelsea intend to sign Jules Kounde

As expected, Chelsea were forced to find a replacement for the departures of Rudiger and Christensen. The German will join Real Madrid, while the Dane would have everything settled with Barcelona. Tuchel’s player of choice to replace the Central Backs is Jules Kounde.

The Frenchman currently plays for Sevilla with a contract until 2024, and according to Transfermarkt, his market value is 60,000,000 euros. The 23-year-old was a key player this season for Julen Lopetegui, playing 41 of a possible 44 games.

Chelsea are determined to sign Kounde, and according to journalist Matteo Moretto, the Blues offered €60,000,000 for the player, although Sevilla are believed to be seeking €80,000,000. Based on the coach’s track record, beyond the 2018 signing of Kylian Mbappe from Monacoto PSGfor €180,000,000, the German never spent such a huge amount of money on signing one player. If Kounde’s move to Chelsea is completed, it would be the second most expensive signing Tuchel has made in his entire coaching career.

The 23-year-old defender was close to signing for Chelsea in July 2021. The Blues had offered 50,000,000 euros for the player, but the truth is that the offer from the English team was very close to the deadline of the transfer market and did not meet Sevilla’s expectations.

Barcelona knows that if it wants to become a strong team again, it must have players with great potential in its squad. “Barcelona must have two high-level players per position”, said Xavi. Mateu Alemany and Jordi Cruyff, members of Barcelona’s Sporting Directorate andJoan Laporta, Barcelona’s president, are working to fulfill Xavi’s wishes to form a top-level team. Changes are expected to be made in the summer with several players that may leave the club and others that may arrive.

However, for there to be new signings, Barça have to free up places in the squad. The candidates to leave the club are Clément Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, Óscar Mingueza, Sergiño Dest, Riqui Puig, and Martin Braithwaite, as well as loan signings Philippe Coutinho, Miralem Pjanić, Francisco Trincão, and Álex Collado. Barcelona have already signed two players that will arrive at zero cost, they are Andreas Christensen and Franck Kessie. And everything seems to indicate that The Culés have already secured its third signing.

Barcelona’s Cesar Azpilicueta new player

Chelsea are going through a period of change. With a new owner, things are expected to change at the club. In addition, many players will leave Chelsea. Antonio Rüdiger and Christensen will leave, but they will not be the only ones. Cesar Azpilicueta intends to leave Chelsea and Barcelona are his chosen destination.

According to As, the defender has already agreed a deal with The Cules for the next two seasons with an option for a further year and a salary of 13 million euros gross for each season, including a free signing bonus.

While Chelsea was up for sale, the board triggered the unilateral option to extend Azpilicueta’s contract, which was due to expire in June. Now that the club has been sold to the ownership group headed by Todd Boehly, Clearlake Capital, Mark Walter and Hansjoerg Wyss, Azpilicueta would be entitled to arrange a new contractual condition, where it is expected to not renew his contract and join Barcelona.