Jules Kounde: Sevilla director denies contact with Barcelona & confirms Chelsea interest

Sevilla director Monchi has denied talks have been held with Barcelona over centre-back Jules Kounde, however admitted Chelsea are among the many sides chasing him.

The earlier Chelsea regime had been working for over a 12 months to attempt to signal Kounde, having come near touchdown the Frenchman in 2021, and the expectation was that he could be among the many first signings of the brand new period at Stamford Bridge beneath Todd Boehly.

Nevertheless, talks have slowed down in latest weeks, with Chelsea parting methods with most of their decision-makers, and Barcelona have now stepped in and are exploring methods to beat the Blues to Kounde’s signature.

Chatting with Onda Cero, Monchi performed down speak of negotiations with Barcelona and as a substitute flipped the eye again to Chelsea.

“Xavi has good style, wanting [Ronald] Araujo and Kounde as his central defenders, they’d be an ideal partnership,” he stated. “However up to now, there was zero contact with Barcelona.

“I do know that Chelsea must search for two central defenders, and the curiosity in Kounde comes from England and different international locations.

“I must be a fortune teller to know what’s going to occur.”

90min understands that Kounde is eager to affix Chelsea, however his representatives have grown frustrated on the delays in talks with Thomas Tuchel’s facet, given they’ve been near a deal for the final 12 months.

Chelsea are actually taking a look at Juventus’ Matthijs de Ligt as properly, whereas Barcelona are exploring cheaper choices themselves amid considerations that their well-known monetary ‘levers’ is not going to stretch large sufficient to allow all their switch needs.

Monchi ended by saying that he understands the curiosity in Kounde however stressing that the plan, for the second, is for the defender to report for pre-season later this summer time.

“He has established himself with France and can play on the World Cup, it is logical that there’s curiosity in him, and there may be,” Monchi stated.

“As of at this time, he’s recovering from harm in Los Angeles and can fly to Korea later like the remainder of the worldwide gamers.”

This text was initially printed on 90min as Jules Kounde: Sevilla director denies contact with Barcelona & confirms Chelsea interest.

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