Jules Kounde: Barcelona reach agreement with Sevilla for Chelsea target

The 23-year-old French defender was a long-term target for Chelsea, with the Blues having agreed personal terms with the latter earlier this year.

However, the Blues went cold in their chase of the defender after he picked up an injury for France in the Nations League in June.

Barcelona now appear to have won the race for Kounde, with the Frenchman understood to have preferred a switch to the Camp Nou over the Stamford Bridge outfit.

Barcelona will pay £50m to Sevilla with extra add-ons of around £10m as per Marca.

Transfer journalist, Fabrizio Romano reports that, Kounde had agreed personal terms with Barcelona since last week.

However, the Catalans have now reached full agreement with Sevilla for the French defender’s transfer.

The deal is reportedly very similar to Chelsea’s. The Blues had made an impressive offer to Sevilla, but failed to reach full agreement with the club reportedly due to the player’s final decision.

Barcelona now look set to complete another summer signing having already seen the likes of Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen and Pablo Torre arrive the club.

However, Spanish club Barcelona moved to hijack the move, leaving Thomas Tuchel to look elsewhere for an alternative.

Chelsea have found it difficult to convince players to make a switch to the Bridge this summer in the post-Abramovich era.

The Blues have seen deals for former Leeds winger Raphinha hijacked by Barcelona and now look set to lose their long-term target Kounde to the Catalans once more, having seen Robert Lewandowski seal a switch to Barca as well as their former defender Andreas Christensen this summer.