Chelsea fans probably hoped that they would never hear the name Jules Kounde again after a year-long transfer debacle threatened to ruin two important summers.
The Blues, who were extremely close to signing the Frenchman twice, finally backed out of a move for the former Sevilla defender after it became apparent that his heart lay in Barcelona, not London. It wasn't for the lack of trying though. Marina Granovskaia and Petr Cech had agreed a deal last summer only for the price to change last minute.
New owners this summer didn't stop Thomas Tuchel going back in for Kounde though and his name was central to most stories in the first half of the window. After picking up the negotiations once more Todd Boehly battled through talks but never settled on a fee and always faced competition from Barcelona to sign the player.
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Eventually, Kounde would go to Catalonia and Chelsea would turn their attentions - more successfully - to Leicester City's Wesley Fofana.
A move to England for Kounde was on the cards before then though, and he revealed it was Pep Guardiola at Manchester City that wanted him. In an interview with El Pais, the 23-year-old said, "yes, during my first year in Sevilla he (Guardiola) called me. He said he loved me and that he thought I would fit well into his style of play.
"I have talked a lot of football with both (Xavi and Guardiola), and I like it. The first thing I realized in my conversations with them was that they had seen me play. They knew my abilities perfectly. They didn't just talk for the sake of talking, they were very precise conversations."
City would instead sign Ruben Dias in 2020 and the Portuguese star would go on to win the Player of the Year Award in his first season. City also tried to pouch Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli in the same summer but couldn't complete a move.
With similar defensive targets Chelsea and City both ended up without Kounde, though the sagas for Dias and Koulibaly are hardly comparable to that of Kounde.
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