From an outside perspective, it’s hard to see how selling Kurt Zouma to West Ham United would do Chelsea much good – especially as there are no suggestions that Declan Rice will be going in the other direction.
If he was to stay at Stamford Bridge, the France international would provide some top-level competition for the likes of Thiago Silva and Antonio Rudiger.
And, with Chelsea looking to compete on several fronts under Thomas Tuchel, the reigning European champions need all the depth they can get.
Letting Zouma go to Sevilla, instead, at least would have paved the way for Jules Kounde to join in his place.
Sky Sports, however, believe that a man snapped up during Jose Mourinho’s second spell at the Bridge is happy in London and would chose the claret-and-blue of West Ham over the citrus-soaked streets of Seville.
What this means for Kounde, who was supposed to arrive at Chelsea in a player-plus-cash swap deal before the end of August, is anyone’s guess right now.
What is certain, however, is that the prospect of Zouma leaving for a club who finished just two places and two points worse off than Chelsea in the Premier League table last season has not gone down particularly well in SW6 – particularly if the deal can be done for as little as £20 million.
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