Barcelona summer-signing Jules Kounde caused quite the stir on social media when he uploaded a controversial post to Instagram Stories laughing at the expense of Chelsea.
The France international was relentlessly linked with a Stamford Bridge switch all summer and at one stage the deal appeared to be done as Kounde said his goodbyes to his Sevilla teammates. However, late intervention from fellow Spanish side Barcelona completely changed the landscape of any exit as Kounde's head was turned by the bright lights of the Camp Nou.
Initially, in the aftermath of his arrival at Barcelona, there were concerns the club would fail to register Kounde with La Liga due to the perilous financial position the Catalan giants currently find themselves in. With that being said, the defender was one of many high-profile additions made by those at the top of the Barcelona hierarchy this summer.
He was eventually registered and has wasted precious little time in reminding everyone why he felt the need to favour a move to Barcelona over Chelsea with a particularly cheeky Instagram Story upload on Tuesday night.
As the Blues were being beaten 1-0 by Croatian titans Dinamo Zagreb thanks to Mislav Orsic's delightful first-half finish, Kounde took to social media to upload a selfie alongside the caption "I almost joined them", followed by laughing and face-palm emojis with the hashtag 'ForcaBarca'.
Whether Kounde regretted the post is unclear, but it was swiftly taken down from his profile. However, not before some particularly eagle-eyed fans spotted the not-so-subtle jibe at the Blues and screenshotted it.
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This is not the first time Kounde his angered the Chelsea faithful with his conduct since snubbing them for Barcelona. He recently explained how it was an "easy" decision to remain in Spain as opposed to moving to west London.
"Barca is still a club able to attract anyone, and the manager [Xavi Hernandez] was very important too," the Frenchman explained. "He gave me a lot of confidence and I liked his way of approaching football. It was an easy choice for me because he gave me all that I was looking for."
Barcelona were the scourge of the Blues all summer, beating them to the signatures of a number of key players who were wanted by both sides.
Former Leeds United winger Raphinha was on the verge of joining Chelsea before Barcelona finally swooped, while the Blues were also touted with a shock switch for Robert Lewandowski but he also only had eyes for the Camp Nou.
