It seems an eternity ago since Chelsea were in for Jules Kounde but in reality, it has been less than 12 months.
It was Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital's first transfer window in football and a lot of lessons were learned. Boehly, at the time, was the interim director of football – the man in charge of transfer-related business at Stamford Bridge while the board were still on the lookout for a recruitment team, one that is now in place.
Chelsea were heavily criticised last summer for what some people perceived as a 'scattergun approach' to dealings. There were countless players linked with a move to west London and the Blues ended with nine new signings arriving.
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Among those signings were Wesley Fofana and Kalidou Koulibaly, with Chelsea losing both Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger on free transfers after their contracts expired. But the one centre-back who was on the club's agenda virtually all summer-long was Kounde of Sevilla.
The 24-year-old central defender, however, eventually chose Barcelona over a switch to the Premier League. Less than a year on, though, and Spanish news outlet Sport are reporting that Kounde has asked senior officials at the Catalan club to leave this summer.
Xavi, the current manager of the recently-crowned La Liga champions, has used Kounde more often than not at right-back this season. The France international, though, would reportedly prefer to play in the centre of defence and that is one of the reasons he has asked to leave the Camp Nou.
What happened in Chelsea's initial pursuit of Kounde?
The interest in Kounde can be stretched back to the summer of 2021 where Chelsea wanted to take the French defender from his former employers Sevilla. However, the Spanish club proved very tough to negotiate with so the Blues had to hold out and revisit the situation a year later.
With Rudiger and Christensen both moving on, former Chelsea head coach Thomas Tuchel made Kounde his No.1 target in the centre of defence. The Blues agreed personal terms with Kounde over a possible move and even reached a verbal agreement over a £55million deal with Sevilla over a move. Monchi, the Spanish club's director of football, then came out and explained why the move never materialised.
"Earlier in the summer, there were more clubs interested, but by last week the only club was Chelsea," Monchi said last summer. "Last Thursday, we had a verbal agreement with Chelsea, and Chelsea had an agreement with the player. The player was sold to Chelsea, it was all agreed.
"But then doubts appeared, not about the player's quality, but about his profile, whether they preferred a different type of player. Barca only appeared for the first time at the weekend, the first time I spoke to Mateu Alemany [Barcelona's director of football] was on Monday.
"Chelsea wanted to come back. But Barca's offer was higher and the player now wanted to go there."
Kounde himself opened up on nearly joining Chelsea and was almost persuaded by Tuchel, but when he learned of Barcelona's interest, the decision was already made for the Frenchman. He said to L’Équipe last September: "It is true that I was not far from signing there [for Chelsea] this summer.
"Barca were interested but had concerns. But when I got that phone call and I felt that Barca had the possibility of bringing me in, I did not hesitate much."
Speaking about Tuchel's role in negotiations, Kounde added: "Yes, I also felt a desire to make me come, but I simply preferred Xavi's speech."
What happens now?
There is no indication whatsoever at this point that Chelsea will rekindle their interest in Kounde ahead of the upcoming summer transfer window. The club are pretty well stacked in the centre-back position, with Koulibaly, Fofana, Benoît Badiashile, Trevoh Chalobah, Thiago Silva and the returning Levi Colwill all options for incoming head coach Mauricio Pochettino in the centre of defence.
All of the latest Kounde news can be put down as speculation. Xavi was asked about the rumours in a recent press conference and played down that the defender wanted to cut ties with the club in the summer transfer window.
"I spoke with Kounde and I was clear with him," the Barca boss told the media. "I know there are a lot of stories – but the player left the meeting happy and same for me. There are no problems. The conversation has been clear, no problem and no issues."
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