Chelsea finally meet Sevilla's Jules Kounde asking price

Chelsea have raised their offer to meet Sevilla's asking price for defender Jules Kounde, 90min understands.

The France international is a long-term target for Chelsea and they have turned back to him having missed out on priority centre-back signing Matthijs de Ligt, who has joined Bayern Munich from Juventus.

As reported by 90min, the Blues returned to the negotiating table for Kounde earlier this week and lodged an offer worth €55m - but that was still €10m short of the La Liga side's valuation.

However, Chelsea remained in talks and 90min has now learned that their latest bid of €65m (£55m) - which includes add-ons worth around €10m - has been accepted in principle by Sevilla's sporting director Monchi.

Monchi has now given Kounde the green light to finalise the move, although personal terms were agreed earlier this month - giving Chelsea confidence that a deal can be confirmed within days.

It is believed that Barcelona remain in contact with Sevilla, but they are yet to even make a firm offer and Chelsea are confident of finally sealing a transfer for a player they have been trying to sign for over 12 months.

The Catalan media believe that Kounde has a preference to move to Camp Nou, but 90min has been told that is not the case and the player is more than happy to head to west London.

Chelsea hope that Kounde will soon be able to join their pre-season tour of the US and link up with fellow defensive recruit Kalidou Koulibaly, who completed a £34m transfer from Napoli at the weekend.

The Blues will then turn their attention to a third central defensive recruit, with Pau Torres and Josko Gvardiol among those being considered. They also looked at Paris Saint-Germain's Presnel Kimpembe - but he appears intent on staying in the French capital.