Chelsea set to miss out on Jules Kounde as Barcelona close in on Sevilla defender
Chelsea look set to suffer late heartache in their pursuit of Jules Kounde. Reports claim the France defender will join Barcelona, with a deal ’99 per cent done’.
Chelsea have been in the market for Kounde for the last few transfer windows. A deal came close to happening last summer but the Blues did not match Sevilla’s asking price.
Chelsea are claimed to have agreed a £55million fee with Sevilla, with personal terms already sorted. However, the player would prefer to join Barca.
The La Liga giants have already spent big this summer but are keen on adding Kounde to their squad. And it appears they are close to doing that.
Spanish football reporter Gerard Romero tweeted an update on Kounde’s future on Saturday morning. And he claimed the centre-back is almost certain to join Barca after an agreement was reached in principle with Sevilla.
Romero tweeted: “This morning Barca and Sevilla have reached an AGREEMENT in principle for Jules Kounde. The deal is 99 per cent closed, unless there is a cataclysm in the next few hours, the Sevilla centre-back will be a Barca player.”
Chelsea boss Tuchel was asked about his interest in Kounde at a press conference on Friday. But the German was keeping his cards close to his chest.
Tuchel said: “There is no news. If there will be news about Jules Kounde I will tell you.”
Tuchel was then pressed over reports that Kounde had chosen to join Chelsea over Barca. He replied: “That’s what you say but I will not start commenting on other players.”
Tuchel says he wants to sign a “minimum of one more” defender before the end of the window. Chelsea lost Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen at the end of their contracts.
They have brought in Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for a fee of around £34m. Meanwhile, Blues captain Cesar Azpilicueta wants to leave the club to join Barca but Tuchel is unsure about sanctioning that transfer.
He said: “It’s a tough question because I am not sure if I want to give Azpi what he wants. At some point it is about what we want.
“I just made the comparison about how much we fought for Koulibaly, who is a national team player and roughly the same age. He is a hugely important player for Napoli but we have a Spanish international who is the captain at Chelsea.
“I see him maybe at the same level but Barcelona don’t see him on that level. So I am not sure if I want to give him what he wants as he is a huge player.”
