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Jules Koundé’s ‘intention is to go to Chelsea’ this summer, despite interest from Barcelona in his signature.

That’s according to Tuttomercatoweb, who say the Catalan giants were ‘ready to spend’ €50m on the defender.

According to the website, Sevilla received an offer from Barcelona for the French centre-back as they continue their rebuild under Xavi.

Improving the defence is likely to be a key aspect of that, with Samuel Umtiti and Clement Lenglet not in their plans and Gerard Pique now 35-years-old.

That saw them move for Koundé, but it seems it was not enough for those in charge at Sevilla, who had spent the summer negotiating with Chelsea over the defender.

That deal ‘collapsed’ in the final days of the window as the Andalusians became annoyed with the ‘back and forth’ approach from their counterparts at Stamford Bridge.

However, Chelsea returned at the end of January, with TMW stating that Blues supremo Marina Granovskaia ‘stepped in for the player’.

According to them, she has a ‘ready offer’ of €50m plus €5m in bonuses for Koundé, but at the moment, that has ‘not yet been delivered’ to Sevilla.

Why that’s the case isn’t made clear, although it’s suggested that the player’s current lack of form could be a factor.

Either way, ‘contacts go on’ between the two clubs and ‘it seems quite clear’ that Kounde’s ‘intention’ is to go to Chelsea, despite interest from elsewhere.