FC Barcelona Rule Out Kounde Signing And State He Has Signed For Chelsea

SportsMoney FC Barcelona Rule Out Kounde Signing And State He Has Signed For Chelsea Tom Sanderson Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jul 22, 2022, 04:35am EDT | New! Click on the conversation bubble to join the conversation Got it! Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin Jules Kounde is heading to Chelsea according to FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta.

Getty Images FC Barcelona have ruled out the transfer of Jules Kounde from Sevilla and believe that he has already signed for Chelsea. The French defender is one of Xavi Hernandez’s few remaining targets in the current window after the Blaugrana managed to land Raphinha from Leeds United and Robert Lewandowski from Bayern Munich last week. Along with Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva, Kounde is one of two names atop of the Catalans’ shortlist, and the activation of the second economic lever worth over $400mn and officially announced on Friday morning gave hope that pursuits for both players might not be far around the corner.

As revealed by Relevo, however, president Joan Laporta ruled out an approach for Kounde once asked by a young fan if the club was going to sign him when the Barca delegation landed in Las Vegas ahead of the next friendly on their preseason tour against bitter rivals Real Madrid on Sunday. “No, not Kounde,” Laporta answered. “Chelsea have signed him,” he added.

This development comes after Kounde deciding to head to Portugal with Sevilla for their own preseason commitments was taken as the France international holding out for Barca to make an approach for him, which was previously seen with Raphinha when Chelsea also made an official offer for the Brazilian that was accepted by then-club Leeds United. MORE FOR YOU WWE Extreme Rules 2021 Results: Winners, News And Notes As Roman Reigns Beats The Demon The World’s Highest-Paid Soccer Players 2021: Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo Reclaims Top Spot From PSG’s Lionel Messi The Good, Bad And Ugly From The Green Bay Packers’ Win Over The San Francisco 49ers Barca are understood to have told Kounde and his camp to wait for them, and they will look to come as close as possible to matching the Premier PINC League giants’ offer for him believed to hang in the region of £55mn ($66mn). Where Barca definitely can’t compete with the west Londoners is on pay, though, with Kounde said to have been offered something like €12mn ($12.

2mn) per year. As seen with Ousmane Dembele, Barca would be willing to offer him around half of that at around €6-7mn ($6. 1-7.

1mn), which is what the likes of Ansu Fati and Pedri currently take home. Though there might still be some hope of Barca pulling off the coup, Kounde himself needs to choose whether he wants to take the more economically attractive package or a punt on the sporting project being constructed by Xavi. Follow me on Twitter .

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