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Chelsea are back in front of Barcelona in the race to sign Sevilla defender Jules Koundé.
The 23-year old has been on Chelsea’s radar for more than a year and came close to a move to Stamford Bridge last summer only for the West London club to fail to meet his valuation.
With Chelsea’s need for central defensive reinforcements a priority, they were ready to renew their interest in him, only for reports to emerge that he was in advanced talks with Barcelona.
However, it now appears that the Catalans are struggling to raise the money to buy the French international, who is valued at around £56 million, whilst Chelsea have most of the relevant agreements in place to sign him.
The player himself is thought to prefer a move to the Camp Nou, but, given that Chelsea can more easily afford his personal terms, it looks like there might be an end in sight to what ahs been a very protracted transfer saga.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.