Jules Kounde has snubbed Chelsea for the second time in 12 months, declaring that he's "not going anywhere" amid speculation surrounding his future at Barcelona.
The Blues had targeted Kounde, 24, last summer but the French defender opted to sign for Barca in a move worth €50million (£42m) plus add-ons. Earlier this week, Kounde's stay at the Camp Nou was thrown into doubt after it emerged that he wasn't happy playing at right-back rather than in the centre of defence, his favoured position.
That alerted Chelsea and soon it was reported that they'd rekindled their interest in the France international, but now their hopes have already been quashed. Kounde tweeted on Thursday evening: "To make it clear: at no time did I ask to go out, so I'm not going anywhere."
The 24-year-old's post clears up the speculation which Barcelona's director of football, Mateu Alemany, did little to silence in the wake of Tuesday's 3-1 defeat to Real Vallodolid. "These are internal situations that we will resolve internally," Alemany said amid claims that Barcelona were lining up Villarreal's Juan Foyth, formerly of Tottenham, to replace Kounde.
Manager Xavi later confirmed that he'd held talks with his defender - who's featured 38 times in all competitions this season, scoring one goal and registering six assists - and explained that the pair were on the same page. "I spoke to him, yes, we were happy and everything was clear," Xavi declared post-match. "I don't see any problems. We both came out of the meeting happy."
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All this serves as yet another blow to Chelsea, who were keen to strengthen their rearguard with Kounde's long-awaited arrival. The Blues are set to be without the impressive Benoit Badieshile at centre-back until after pre-season, as his hamstring injury is worse than first feared.
"It's a big blow for him and I'm really disappointed with him," interim Chelsea boss Frank Lampard bemoaned. "He's come here and impressed. The games before he got injured I was very happy with him. The injury is unfortunate and very complicated in his hamstring and we're talking months rather than weeks unfortunately. Hopefully, the time over the summer means he's not missing games and he comes back stronger."
The Blues have splashed plenty of cash on their defence since Kounde initially rejected them in favour of joining Barca. Firstly shelling out £34m to sign Kalidou Kouliably from Napoli, Chelsea pushed Leicester until the end of August to prise Wesley Fofana away from Leicester in an eye-watering £70m deal.
Those two big-money signings make up just over one sixth of co-controlling owner Todd Boehly's total spending of £600m since taking over at Stamford Bridge last April. It seems he won't be adding to that with Kounde, though.
