Chelsea's pursuit of Jules Kounde is being held up by the stalled sale of Kurt Zouma to West Ham, which has hit a stumbling block over the defender’s wage demands.
A £26million fee had been agreed for Zouma but the France international wants £125,000 a week.
Sevilla’s Kounde is rated at £68m and Chelsea need to sell to fund a move.
The Blues made the 22-year-old their No 1 defensive target this summer but delayed their pursuit of his signature to focus on securing Romelu Lukaku from Inter Milan first.