Kounde set to join Barcelona 

French star Jules Kounde will, barring a surprise, join Barcelona. Sevilla and the Catalan club have reached advanced negotiations and the future of the French centre-back could be announced in the next few hours.

The two teams have reached an agreement for the fixed amount of the transfer of the player, about 50 million euros.

What prevents reaching an absolute green light are the variable bonuses of 10m euros on top of the fixed fee, according to MARCA.

In any case, this is a minor issue and should not prevent the deal from being finalised. Barcelona are unreservedly optimistic about the transfer of Kounde.

In addition to the fixed 50m euros, there will be another 10m euros in variables. As reported by TV3, of these 10m euros, five will be easy to fulfil.

There are still some bureaucratic issues to be ironed out, but as of today, everything has been agreed for Kounde's transfer.

The figures of the operation are very similar to those presented by Chelsea. The Premier League team was interested in the player and made an official offer. However, they did not respond to Sevilla's reply and were never heard from again.

Negotiations started, officially, last Monday. Then, Mateu Alemany called the Sevilla offices to convey an interest that had been clear for weeks.

However, until then, the Andalusian club had not received any official or unofficial proposal. Nor had Barcelona shown any real interest in Kounde.

Kounde was Xavi's preferred candidate to reinforce the defence for the 2022/23 season. The Catalan club's priority is to shore up the back line after putting together an absolutely spectacular attacking unit.

With Kounde, Barcelona will gain leadership, ball control, judgement and strength at the back.