Kounde to Chelsea will hit Man Utd's De Jong hopes hard

Cameron Smith

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
• 3 min read

Chelsea's proposed move for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde could mean that Barcelona don't sell Frenkie de Jong to Manchester United this summer.

The Camp Nou side are currently battling Thomas Tuchel's side for Kounde's signature, but it's believed that Chelsea are ahead in the race, with the Blues having offered a far greater wage package to the player.

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In addition to that, the Evening Standard have reported that Chelsea have submitted a €65 million bid for the Frenchman, which is the amount Sevilla were holding out for.

If Barcelona miss out on Kounde, they'll save themselves a huge sum of money, which could be kept aside to keep De Jong.

CBS reporter Ben Jacobs has already written for FootballTransfers that Barcelona don't even need to sell De Jong to finance a move for Kounde, so if the Frenchman doesn't arrive then there's even less need to offload the Dutch international.

The Blaugrana believe selling De Jong won't help fund any new signings due to the measures they've taken to ensure the likes of Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha could be acquired.

Furthermore, according to Sport's Ferran Correas, Barcelona are already working on activating a third economic lever and if it's completed, De Jong's sale will no longer be necessary.

Could De Jong stay at Barcelona?

As they feel they could sign Kounde without selling De Jong, and any alternative signing to the Sevilla is likely to be cheaper, it's unlikely Barcelona feel pressured to sell the former Ajax star this summer.

As a result, there is less of an incentive for them to make a sale. However, De Jong's salary is still a major issue for Barcelona, and it's one they will need to fix soon.

Loaning Clement Lenglet to Tottenham and Francisco Trincao to Sporting CP will have helped, as will the sales of Philippe Coutinho and Raj Manaj to Aston Villa and Watford respectively.

Samuel Umtiti, Oscar Mingueza and Memphis Depay could also be sold, which would free up more space on the wage bill.