SEVILLA CHIEF: CHELSEA LET KOUNDE SLIP

Chelsea agreed a deal to sign Jules Kounde last week but took too long to seal the transfer, allowing Barcelona to hijack it. Chelsea were set to make defender Kounde, 23, their third summer signing until Barca announced they had struck a £46million deal with sevilla for him. sevilla director of football Monchi said: ‘Both us and the player reached a verbal agreement with them last Thursday. But at the last moment Chelsea had doubts. Talks stalled and even though they put in a really good bid they preferred to wait.

‘Eventually, we accepted Barcelona’s bid.’ Despite signing Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for £34million, Chelsea are still chasing another defender. Bayern Munich’s Benjamin Pavard, leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Milan Skriniar, of Inter Milan, are on their list of targets.