Chelsea in Kounde talks | Tuchel expects Broja to stay

Chelsea are continuing talks with Sevilla over a deal for defender Jules Kounde as Thomas Tuchel admits the club need to make further signings.

Chelsea have signed Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly this summer but Tuchel is keen to add another centre-back to his squad having lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen to Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Tuchel has been an admirer of Kounde for some time, having also been linked with the player in last summer's transfer window.

Chelsea were interested in Matthijs de Ligt, who has joined Bayern Munich for £68m, and Nathan Ake, who appears likely to stay at Man City.

Ahead of the pre-season friendly against Arsenal this weekend on the second leg of their US tour, Tuchel said: "We need a couple more to improve the squad.

"We finished third last season - there was a gap. If you want to keep your position you need to improve. You can never stand still. Other teams will overtake you. We've lost players.

"This is common sense. It's the dream of every manager to find players from your own league who can adapt so easily. Raheem knows the habits of English clubs and has English team-mates here.

"Kalidou (Koulibaly) knows Mendy from the national team and Jorginho was a big help from Napoli to make the process of integration faster. They are huge players for us. We need to speed things up."

Tuchel has also played down talk that Armando Broja is set to leave the club on loan this summer.

Broja excelled during a loan spell last season at Southampton, but the indications are he will form part of Tuchel's plans this term.

"I don't expect him to leave," Tuchel continued. "I'm aware of the offers and aware of the interest. We will make a decision together, the owner and me and the player.