Earlier on Thursday, reports coming out of Spain explained Sevilla are ready to sell Jules Koundé this summer and are waiting for Chelsea or another club to make an offer for him.
Barcelona are credited with an interest in the 23-year-old and the west London club’s lack of efforts to seal the deal could open the door for them.
Sport state the Catalan club have tested the ground to sign the France international for the past few weeks. They have intensified their efforts after finding out the defender’s move to the Blues was not picking up pace.
Faced with the Premier League side’s ‘slowness’ and their ‘inability to make a formal offer’, Sevilla are advancing talks with Xavi Hernández’s side for the centre-back.
They did this through an intermediary, and are waiting to find out whether their La Liga counterpart has enough financial strength to carry out the operation.
It’s claimed this step could ‘wake up Chelsea’, who must strengthen their defence after losing Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen as free agents.
Barca, meanwhile, have been looking to include some of their own players as part of the deal for the former Bordeaux man, but that was discarded by Julen Lopetegui’s side for economic and sporting reasons.
That’s because Sevilla only want cash for Koundé. They are rushing for his departure, but will stand firm with their asking price for the player.
Barcelona believe they have a chance to advance the operation for the Frenchman. At the same time, they are also aware that if Chelsea ‘get tough’, then it will be ‘impossible’ for Koundé to arrive at the Camp Nou, even though he has a desire to continue in Spain.
