‘He was sold to Chelsea’ – Sevilla blame Blues for failed Jules Kounde transfer after defender agreed to join club

SEVILLA have blamed Chelsea after their pursuit of Jules Kounde ended in failure - and say that the Stamford Bridge switch was all but done.

The Blues had been edging closer to signing the defender in recent weeks but Barcelona announced that they had instead secured Kounde last night in a deal that could go up to £50.4million.

It comes as a blow to Chelsea who have been frantically trying to get new centre-backs in after the departure of Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

But Sevilla say the failure to land Kounde is entirely down to the London club.

The Spanish side's sporting director Monchi said the deal with Chelsea was "all agreed" before the club hesitated and left the door open for Barca.

Monchi told Sevilla TV: "Earlier in the summer, there were more clubs interested, but by last week the only club was Chelsea.

"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 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."

One consolation for Thomas Tuchel's side is their ability to secure Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for £34m earlier in this window.

But they will be disappointed to miss out on a defender they have been chasing for multiple transfer windows.

Kounde has said that the Barcelona manager Xavi was key in him deciding to head to the Nou Camp.

Meanwhile, Man City have knocked back suggestions they made a move for Seville centre back. 

Reports in Spain claimed the champions were in a race with Barcelona and Chelsea for the French defender. 

However Etihad sources insist they would only have looked for a new player in that position if Nathan Ake had left - and it was clear two weeks ago the Dutchman would be staying.