Chelsea have sent paperwork to Sevilla during the night to complete their £55m move for Jules Kounde according to Fabrizio Romano. The London club have agreed a five-year deal with the player and want to close the deal before Barcelona bid for him.

Barcelona and Chelsea have been the two leading suitors for the 23-year-old Frenchman all summer. It’s widely expected that he’ll be leaving Sevilla – he joined the Andalusian club in the summer of 2019 and has since become one of the finest centre-backs in the European game. 

Sevilla can no longer sate his ambitions – he wants to join a top-tier club capable of fighting for major honours.

And both Barcelona and Chelsea can offer that. The former have been moving aggressively this summer transfer window to strengthen their squad, bringing in Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski. 

The latter won the Champions League in 2020/21 and are led by one of the very finest coaches in the game in Thomas Tuchel.