Jules Kounde will be revealed as a FC Barcelona player in coming days, putting an end to an eventful transfer saga. The French defender has agreed to join Barcelona after a £46m agreement was reached with Sevilla. Chelsea very well expressed their interest in signing Kounde but failed to reach an agreement which means that Xavi’s side has beaten Chelsea yet again for another player.
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The French international joined Barcelona after three wonderful spells with Sevilla, during that time he made 133 appearances, while scoring on nine occasions as Kounde became Barcelona’s sixth signing of the summer following the arrivals of Pablo Torre, Frank Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha and Lewandowski.
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On top of an initial £45m fee, Barcelona will have to pay another £4-8m in add-ons, if Kounde manages to stay fit and play most of the games next season. This transfer broke Sevilla’s record transfer sale. However, Bordeaux will receive a sell-on fee of around £6-7m.
Reports suggest that Kounde could be earning around £5-5.5m a year in his current contract with Barcelona.
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Having already taken Christensen away from Thomas Tuchel, Xavi has eyes on their Spanish full-back duo Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso who are both keen on leaving England this summer transfer window. As things stand, Azpilicueta is Barcelona’s next number 1 target and has long been linked to Barcelona and could be tempted by a transfer to his home country but Tuchel would do everything in his power to stop that deal.
[Featured Image Credit: Jules Kounde]
Shashank Iyer