Barcelona have made a point of signing their main targets this summer, but they may be about to lose out on Jules Kounde.
Their interest in the Frenchman has been well-documented, but after Chelsea missed out on both Nathan Ake and Matthijs de Ligt, the Blues returned to the race for Kounde.
Today the French defender returned to Sevilla’s training ground and spoke with Sporting Director Monchi, but did not return to training as per Diario AS.
Amid reports that Chelsea have agreed a deal with Sevilla for the French defender, Barcelona appear to be on the outside looking in.
Relevo say that Barcelona are coming round to the idea that they may not be successful in landing Kounde. Crucially, they say that as long as Cesar Azpilicueta does arrive, Barcelona will not go on the hunt for another high-profile central defender a priori.
El Barça empieza a asumir que no fichará a Koundé. Incluso en el club hay quien ya lo ve en Londres. El acuerdo Chelsea-Sevilla, en la recta final.
Si llega Azpilicueta, no habrá urgencias por fichar 'otro' Koundé. Se valorará más adelante. @tjuanmarti 🤝 @samuelsonsilva pic.twitter.com/f7Oh9owlPj
— Relevo (@relevo) July 20, 2022
Mundo Deportivo differ in their reporting, claiming that Barcelona are still confident of Kounde’s desire to play in Catalonia. They will have to activate their second financial lever in order to put in a formal bid however.
The news reported by Relevo is however backed up by Sevillano journalist Jose Manuel Garcia, who believes the deal will be done in a matter of hours. He also claims Barcelona have not been in contact of late.
La sensación es que todo quedará cerrado en horas. Se trata de una operación multimillonaria (60+5), la más importante en la historia del Sevilla, con muchas aristas legales y demasiados protagonistas externos.
— José Manuel García (@butacondelgarci) July 20, 2022
If, as appears, Kounde does opt to go to Chelsea, Sevilla can finally move ahead with their summer business. Monchi has been awaiting the funds from Kounde’s deal in order to press ahead with strengthening the rest of Sevilla’s squad.
