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Chelsea suffered a 4-0 defeat in a friendly against Arsenal on Saturday at the Camping World Stadium. Manager Thomas Tuchel has now lost two of three pre-season games this summer.
Meanwhile, the Blues have received a blow in their pursuit of a Sevilla defender. Elsewhere, Romelu Lukaku set to stay at Inter Milan till 2024. On that note, here's a look at the key Chelsea transfer stories as on July 24, 2022:
Chelsea receive blow in Jules Kounde pursuit
Chelsea have received a setback in their pursuit of a Sevilla defender. According to journalist Gerard Romero via The Hard Tackle, Barcelona have hijacked the London giants’ move for Jules Kounde.
Tuchel is eager to take the Sevilla defender to Stamford Bridge this summer. The German manager has already roped in Kalidou Koulibaly but remains in the market for another centre-back.
Kounde is the club’s preferred choice, and they're locked in negotiations with the La Liga side to facilitate a move. However, the Blaugrana are also in the hunt for the 23-year-old as they look for a long-term successor for Gerard Pique.
The La Liga giants have now stolen a march on the Blues and have reached an agreement with Sevilla for Kounde. The Frenchman is set to move to the Camp Nou instead of Stamford Bridge.
Romelu Lukaku set to stay at Inter Milan till 2024
Romelu Lukaku is set to stay at Inter Milan till 2024, according to The Daily Mail. The Belgian striker returned to Serie A within a year of arriving at Stamford Bridge this summer after enduring a difficult 2021-22 season.
Lukaku dropped down the pecking order under Tuchel, who sanctioned his loan move to the San Siro ahead of the new season.
The Nerazzurri paid £7 million to sign their former player on loan for the upcoming season. However, it now appears Lukaku has no future with the Blues despite signing a five-year deal last summer. There’s already an agreement in place between the two clubs to extend the loan deal for another campaign.
Thomas Tuchel opens up on preferred formation ahead of new season
Thomas Tuchel refused to dwell on his use of both a back four and a back three against Arsenal. The Chelsea manager has preferred a back three at Stamford Bridge but offered a glimpse of a change in the system on Saturday.
However, speaking after the game, as quoted by Football London, Tuchel insisted that the change was based on the players available to him.
"We discussed this many times. If you want to play three at the back, you need to have three in the back. If you don’t, it’s not worth playing three in the back. Given Kalidou was only ready for 25 mins today, and given who was available, we tried to play 4-4-2. I think, it was not a structural problem because we conceded two goals with the back five and two sixes, which we are used to playing," said Tuchel.
He continued:
"It was behaviour in the structure. That’s much more important how we behave. We need to be more lively and aggressive. The level of commitment, the level of physical input, was simply not enough."
Tuchel added:
"The adaption of position, the joy of helping each other, the joy of working hard together was what was missing. It’s not a moment to destroy my group because they are a very nice and hard-working group, this will not change. But for today, this is the honest analysis of the game. It’s not worth talking around this. It was like this today."
