Tottenham are not prepared to pay more than €50 million (£44m) for Nuno Espirito Santo’s priority transfer target Jules Kounde, according to Estadio Deportivo.
Unfortunately for Spurs, that may well not be enough to bring the 22-year-old to north London, with Sevilla allegedly wanting closer to €70m (£60m).
Tottenham manager Nuno desperately needs to address his central defensive department this summer.
Spurs were easy to get at last season, and that needs to change if they are to challenge for the top four again.
Jules Kounde will cost Tottenham more than £44m
Spurs are allegedly not prepared to pay any more than that amount for the French centre-back.
That could end up being a big mistake.
Kounde is not your archetypal centre-back. Standing at 5ft 10in tall, the Frenchman is one of the shortest top-class central defenders in the game.
Don’t let that fool you – he has one of best leaps in the game.
In 34 La Liga outings for Sevilla last season, he won an average of three aerial duels per game. That really is some going.
The young defender is a superb passer of the football as well. He averaged 69.3 passes per game and recorded an exceptional completion rate of 90.1% in La Liga last season.
Kounde would be a truly brilliant signing for Tottenham. However, the north London outfit will not be spending crazy money on him.
Perhaps they should push the boat out this time, just this once. The Sevilla ace is totally worth stretching the budget for.
Stats obtained by WhoScored.
Readd: Levy has Harry Kane message for Nuno.
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