EPL: Chelsea look at Inter’s Dumfries after Kounde transfer failure

Chelsea are switching focus to Inter Milan’s Denzel Dumfries after frustration in their bid to sign Sevilla’s Jules Kounde.

The Blues’ bid fell slightly short of Kounde’s asking price and they are reluctant to go further for the 23-year-old who Thomas Tuchel was initially unsure about.

Barcelona have now taken over as favourites to win the France international’s signature, with an approach that mirrors the hijacking of Chelsea’s bid for Raphinha, but they currently also remain short of the asking price.

Chelsea have missed out on key targets with Bayern Munich beating them in the race for Matthijs de Ligt and after Manchester City blocking their £45million approach for Nathan Ake.

Inter need to sell one major player this summer and Chelsea have looked at both Milan Skriniar, the centre-back, and wing-back Dumfries.

The Serie A giants have received approaches for both players already with Paris Saint-Germain attempting to sign Skriniar.

However, Inter have raised their asking price for the Slovakia international to £59m after missing out on their ideal replacement in Torino’s Gleison Bremer to rivals Juventus.

They prefer to sell Dumfries, who has attracted the interest of Manchester United, having already replaced him with Raoul Bellanova.

With uncertainty around which defender the Blues will sign, there’s been little clarity for Ethan Ampadu, Levi Colwill or Malang Sarr on whether they will stay next season or go on loan.

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This is on top of Cesar Azpilicueta’s potential move to Barcelona which is currently being blocked by his club.

Xavier Mbuyamba, Matt Miazga and Baba Rahman have been put up for sale by Chelsea who are conscious of loan limits that have come into play through FIFA’s new regulations.

Tuchel has spoken about his frustration with both incoming and outgoing transfers after his side’s 4-0 defeat against Arsenal in Orlando. He has told the new Boehly-Clearlake owners that he wants two more centre-backs and a wing-back.