Chelsea suffer major blow as Barcelona strike deal for top Tuchel target

Chelsea are set to miss out on Sevilla’s Jules Kounde with the defender in advanced talks to join Barcelona instead.

Kounde has been Chelsea manager, Thomas Tuchel’s top transfer target in the past few months.

Chelsea agreed to terms with the Frenchman last summer, only for the deal to collapse as Sevilla played hardball over a fee.

The Blues were poised to make a second attempt to sign the 23-year-old centre-back this summer, having lost both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers.

However, according to Catalunya Radio, Barcelona have gazumped Chelsea and talks are at an advanced stage, with the Catalan club having agreed on a deal in principle with Sevilla.

The report added that the LaLiga giants will pay around €60million (£51.6m) and have agreed to include one player in part exchange, though they have yet to decide which player to swap.

Sergino Dest is one option, though Barcelona were hoping to use him as part of a deal with Bayern Munich for their striker Robert Lewandowski, while Trincao and Clement Lenglet are also being considered.

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