One of the biggest rollercoaster stories of the summer transfer window has taken another crazy turn as Barcelona are suddenly preparing an official bid for Sevilla to try and hijack their deal with Chelsea for French central defender Jules Koundé, according to transfer guru himself, Fabrizio Romano.
According to multiple reports from Spain, Barça had given up on the Koundé race yesterday, but the Catalans are seemingly back in the game and have not yet thrown in the proverbial towel.
Jules Koude. While sources at Sevilla deny any deal with FCB because the negotiations are “only with Chelsea”, Barcelona are preparing an official bid to try and hijack the deal. @gerardromero reports #FCB
Chelsea are still waiting for the ‘green light’ from Sevilla/Jules since Thursday. pic.twitter.com/CEaNH3qoZy
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 23, 2022
More points on Koundé
▫️ Koundé has always been in talks with both Chelsea and Barça for the past 2 weeks;
▫️ Barcelona proposal does not match Chelsea terms, “too high” – different structure;
▫️ Chelsea sent official offer 3 days ago, still hoping for green light for Sevilla.
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 23, 2022
Fabrizio’s report adds more credibility to journalist Gerard Romero’s claims that Barca are very close to a deal with Sevilla for Koundé. Romero went so far as to say that Koundé is “99% a Barça player”, and the Blaugrana presented an offer more attractive to Sevilla than Chelsea.
Romano mentions that Barça’s proposal has a “different structure”, which is a claim by . seems to support Diario Sports that the Catalans will pay the full transfer fee in advance. As Fabrizio says, the Blaugrana Chelsea’s reported offer of 65 million euros cannot match, but the London club have only offered to pay the fee in installments.
Several sources claim that Koundé’s first option has always been to sign for Barça, but the Blaugrana had not yet made an offer and time seemed to be running out. Things have changed now and the next few hours should be very, very interesting.
