Chelsea 'pulled out' of Jules Kounde deal due to 'doubts' before Barcelona move, Sevilla's Monchi reveals

Chelsea «pulled out» of a deal for Sevilla defender Jules Kounde due to «doubts» over how he would fit into Thomas Tuchel's squad, according to the Spanish club's director of football, Monchi. Barcelona announced that they had agreed a deal in principle for the Frenchman on Thursday in another apparent transfer blow for Chelsea, who had been strongly connected with the player. Ad/> Monchi has now revealed, though, that a deal was in place to take Kounde to the London club before Chelsea hesitated on concluding the transfer, allowing Barcelona an opportunity to table a bid of their own.

TransfersNo concrete interest from Real Madrid for Sevilla's Jules Kounde — Expert View28/07/2020 AT 15:23 Sevilla subsequently reached an accord on a club-record sale to the Catalan club. /> Monchi explained: «There were more suitors for Koundé at the beginning of the market than at the end, and above all, the one who has stayed is Chelsea, who in the last month have kept us busy and negotiating to the point that last Thursday we reached a verbal agreement and so did the player. /> »They didn't doubt Jules' quality but his place within the squad.

«Everything stopped over the weekend, and then Barcelona appeared. It's important to mention this, but the first time [Barcelona sporting director Mateu] Alemany got in contact was on Monday. He showed his interest in signing Koundé.

»We received an offer that was lower than what we had in mind, but we renegotiated with them andreached an agreement for a club-record sale". Chelsea have already signed Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli this summer but remain keen on further reinforcements after the departures of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. A potential return to the club for Nathan Ake now