Thomas Tuchel makes decisive intervention in Chelsea's pursuit of Jules Kounde

Thomas Tuchel has managed to convince Sevilla defender Jules Kounde to choose Chelsea over Barcelona with the west London club finally closing in on an agreement, according to reports.

For several weeks, Barca appeared to be leading the race for the France international and were ready to submit an offer as soon as their latest financial ‘lever’ had been activated.

Chelsea, meanwhile, had been chasing other targets despite their long-standing interest in Kounde, but Matthijs de Ligt opted to join Bayern Munich instead and they could not agree a fee with Manchester City for Nathan Ake.

That saw them return to Sevilla with an offer worth around £55million, though Barca – who are not able to match that bid – still hoped Kounde would opt for a move to Camp Nou.

As happened with Raphinha, the Catalan club had asked the centre-back to inform his club that he was only prepared to join Barcelona – but he declined to do so.

Kounde has always been happy to move to Stamford Bridge and has had an agreement over personal terms in place for a year, with Chelsea having first pursued him last summer.

Barca had also asked the 23-year-old to delay any move until they were in a position to make an offer to Sevilla and his decision to go on their pre-season tour to Portugal – having initially been left out of the squad – suggested he was willing to do so.

But now Spanish newspaper Sport claim Kounde has given Chelsea the green light to complete a deal after he spoke with manager Tuchel.

The German coach has been described as ‘the key’ to unlocking the signing, with Tuchel selling the club to the defender and underlining the enormous efforts Chelsea’s hierarchy had been making to secure a deal.

As happened with Kalidou Koulibaly, Kounde was