Barcelona appear to have given up in the race to sign Sevilla defender Jules Kounde.

According to a recent report from leading transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, the Catalan giants are not prepared to match Chelsea’s £55m offer.

Not only that but Todd Boehly’s decision to offer the French defender a whopping £8.5m (€10m) salary may not be something Xavi’s Barcelona can compete with.

Should Sevilla agree to let Kounde move to Stamford Bridge, the 23-year-old will become Thomas Tuchel’s third summer signing after Raheem Sterling joined from Man City and Kalidou Koulibaly arrived from Napoli.

Blues’ fans will be keeping everything crossed that their club can finally reach an agreement with their Spanish rivals. After losing Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger at the end of the season after both defenders failed to extend their contracts, the 2020-21 Champions League winners are desperately short of centre-back options.

Kounde would prove a versatile addition. Not only can the Frenchman play at centre-back as part of a back four or five, he can also fill in at full-back and that could prove invaluable if Cesar Azpilicueta leaves before the start of next season.

David Moyes will be pulling his hair out if recent reports are true that new signing Nayef Aguerd has been ruled out through injury for three months.

According to a recent report from BeIN Sports, the former Stade Rennes defender will miss the third quarter of the year after injuring himself during a pre-season friendly against Scottish side Rangers earlier this week.

Aguerd, 26, was only signed by Moyes earlier this summer.

After reaching an agreement worth £31.5m with Stade Rennes, Moyes would have felt relieved to have finally added a new centre-back to his squad.

Nayef Aguerd in action during pre-season for West Ham United.

However, now set for a significant spell on the sidelines, the Scottish tactician will have no choice but to postpone the Moroccan defender’s competitive debut.

Hammers fans will be hoping that the club will soon be able to provide some more information on the 26-year-old’s recent injury, but although they will be hoping for the best, these latest reports will make them fear the worst.

West Ham United have reportedly agreed a £30.5m deal to sign Sassuolo striker Gianluca Scamacca.

That’s according to Sky Sports journalist Dharmesh Sheth, who claims the Hammers are on the verge of confirming Scamacca as their fifth signing of the summer.

David Moyes has already signed Flynn Downes, Alphonse Areola, Nathan Trott and marquee defender Nayef Aguerd from Stade Rennes.

However, the Londoners’ spending looks set to continue with Scamacca seemingly edging closer to becoming a Hammer.

The 23-year-old forward was also rumored to have been a target for Arsenal. Super-agent Roberto De Fanti recently claimed Mikel Arteta’s Gunners made an offer for Sassuolo’s number 91 earlier in the summer.

“It is rumored throughout the industry that Arsenal made a £25m (€30m) offer to Sassuolo for Scamacca in the last couple of days,” De Fanti wrote in his exclusive column last month.

“The club’s general manager also said that it is very likely the striker will leave to play in the Premier League.”

However, where Arsenal missed out, West Ham appear to have benefited.

Since forcing his way through Sassuolo youth academy, Scamacca, who has four years left on his deal, has gone on to feature in 41 senior matches, in all competitions, directly contributing to 17 goals along the way.

It’s always risky to try and rebuild a defence in one transfer window, but Chelsea don’t have much of a choice after the key departures of Rudiger and Christensen this summer.

It’s also not completely clear if Thomas Tuchel plans to keep going with a three-at-the-back formation or if he wants to transition to a more traditional back four, although the presence of Thiago Silva suggests a three is still more likely.

They already have Kalidou Koulibaly to bolster their ranks, and there are plenty of reports that suggest Sevilla star Jules Kounde was going to be the final piece of the puzzle.

You do want balance at the back so a left-footed player would make more sense, and these latest comments from the manager suggest that they might be looking elsewhere for the next recruit: If Tuchel is after someone who’s more naturally left-sided then that would give more credence to reports claiming that Nathan Ake could be on his way back to Stamford Bridge, so it will be interesting to see how this pans out.