Jules Koundé situation still unresolved as Barcelona prepares opening bid for Chelsea target — reports

Jules Koundé’s potential move from Sevilla to Chelsea is out of our hands, as made clear by CBS Sports’ Ben Jacobs thread which summed up how the Blues have done everything in the right order to take the Frenchman from the Spanish club. But with the player — and consequently his club — apparently waiting for Barcelona’s approach, all we can do is wait and hope for the best.

According to Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano, Barcelona are finally taking formal steps to gauge how many rugs they can pull in this transfer window. They are ‘preparing’ their first bid for Koundé, which will not reach Chelsea’s £55m offer since it will include a bunch of add-ons that could make up for a smaller initial amount.

Meanwhile Spanish newspaper AS are a bit more incisive in their claims, with their latest report on Koundé claiming Barcelona manager Xavi convinced the player to wait for his team and rebuff Chelsea once an offer is tabled. Koundé himself will not take part in Sevilla’s friendly against Sporting CP in Lisbon today, since he decided to stay at their hotel in Portugal.

At the very least we shall see the end of this saga reach its conclusion quite soon. Words of yore remain: If not Koundé, it will be someone else just as capable or even better than the player who fell prey to the siren song.