Chelsea make £40m bid for Presnel Kimpembe, still in for Jules Koundé, too — reports

Chelsea seem intent on spending more money on center backs this summer, and along those lines, according to the Daily Mail, have made a £40m bid for PSG’s Presnel Kimpembe. This is below PSG’s previously rumored £50m asking price for the defender, who may not want to leave in the first place, so we’ll see if either of them bite.

A potential Kimpembe reunion with Thomas Tuchel (and Thiago Silva) is competing for rumor-mill attention with a revived Jules Koundé narrative. Chelsea’s will-we/won’t-we romance with him seems to still be hinging on whether Sevilla will sanction a move. They evidently still want more than we’re willing to give — £40-50m seems to be our sweet spot — and are hoping to keep playing Chelsea and Barcelona against each other.

Meanwhile, the Nathan Aké track has gone cold, despite personal terms supposedly agreed. It was probably because of that door man at City’s training camp who told Aké that he has the “poise of an apex predator but the eyes of a kindly woodland creature”. We ain’t got no comedy door-greeters, alas...