Game over for Chelsea? 'Barcelona to announce €60m Kounde signing'
FT Desk
- 24 Jul 2022 21:36 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona have won the race to sign Jules Kounde from Sevilla, according to multiple reports in the Spanish media on Sunday evening.
Both Barcelona and Chelsea have been going head-to-head for the signature of Kounde over the past fortnight.
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On Sunday evening, numerous reliable Spanish outlets reported that Kounde has agreed to join Barca and that the transfer could be announced imminently.
'Barcelona agree Kounde deal'
Sport reported that Barcelona and Sevilla have reached an agreement over a deal worth €50 million up-front and €10m in add-ons.
The same report states that Kounde has rejected Chelsea and decided to join Barcelona.
Mundo Deportivo back up this line, stating that Barcelona are “closer than ever” to completing the Kounde transfer and the deal is imminent. MD adds that Kounde has chosen Barca over Chelsea.
Barcelona journalist Gerard Romeo goes even further and says that Kounde’s transfer to the Camp Nou could be official at any moment.
Fabrizio Romano is a little more cautious than the Spanish media but he also states that “Barcelona have received indications from Kounde’s camp in the last few hours that he is prepared to accept their personal terms.”
Chelsea believed they were on the verge of completing the deal for Kounde earlier this week having had a bid totalling around €65m (£55m) accepted by Sevilla.
Chelsea are also reported by some sources to have agreed personal terms with Kounde, but the transfer was never completed because the player himself was stalling.
The reason for that is because, according to multiple sources in Spain, Kounde always preferred to join Barcelona.
Now the Blaugrana have seemingly managed to find the money to table a bid that will satisfy Sevilla and, if the Spanish media is to be believed, a deal is set to be closed imminently.
The news comes as a bitter blow for Chelsea, who are desperately trying to sign another top centre-back this summer. They have already bought Kalidou Koulibaly but, having lost both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen, they are very short on numbers at the back.
Chelsea could now move on to other targets such as PSG’s Presnel Kimpembe.
