Spanish giants Barcelona confirmed on Thursday an “agreement in principle” with Sevilla for the signing of 23-year-old French center-back Jules Koundé on a permanent transfer, pending a medical to make the deal official.
Koundé’s signing comes after a long bidding war between Barça and Chelsea, who last Thursday reached an agreement with Sevilla on a deal worth over €60 million but were never given the green light to make the transfer official.
Koundé’s priority was always Barça, and the Catalans finally acted over the last few days and presented a formal offer.
Things moved pretty quickly from there, and now the transfer is official.
According to several reports, the deal has been closed for 50 million euros with an additional 10 million to come in performance bonuses.
The French international offers a giant upgrade to Barça’s defense and should form a formidable center-back pairing alongside Ronald Araujo, and the Blaugrana continue to add major depth to Xavi Hernández’s squad ahead of what could be a great season.
