Chelsea can secure elite, experienced star who is perfect for Maresca by selling squad player | OneFootball

Chelsea have today been linked with serious interest in Barcelona defender Jules Kounde.

We can see why – he’s a long term target for us, having come very close to a move to West London when Thomas Tuchel was in charge before plumping for Catalonia at the last minute.

Since then, he’s become an even better fit, and he’s developed his skills as a right back. Meanwhile Chelsea have appointed Enzo Maresca, a man who loves his full backs to come inside when in possession, making Kounde a dream hybrid player for him in that position.

But there’s one major problem – as one of the world’s best in his position, Kounde will command a huge transfer fee. There was talk of a €100m asking price, which is clearly over the top, but shows what price bracket Barca are putting him in. With teams like Arsenal sniffing around too, any team who wants to persuade the Blaugrana to sell one of their prize assets is going to have to break the bank.

How Chelsea can secure elite option without breaking the bank

Renato Veiga celebrates after making his Serie A debut. (Photo by Valerio Pennicino/Getty Images)

Given Chelsea’s current model of signing young players before the peak of their value and wage demands, this feels very unlikely to happen now. But there is one way we could sign Kounde without a huge net cost in the summer.

Renato Veiga is a similar player, position wise, and has impressed at Juventus since moving there on loan in January. If we were to sell him there permanently, for say, €35m, that would be a huge chunk out of whatever

It still wouldn’t fit our “model”, but as a method to get an elite, experienced defender in, it would work well from a squad composition and balance sheet perspective.

If Juve come knocking with big money this summer, expect us to think about it.