Barcelona identify next priority target after Jules Kounde signing – report

Barcelona completed another major transfer earlier today when they announced the capture of Jules Kounde from Sevilla. The 23-year-old arrived after an intense transfer battle with Chelsea, who, at one point looked set to land the Frenchman only for the tables to turn in a spectacular fashion.

Having now landed Kounde, Barça are planning to inflict another blow on Chelsea in the ongoing transfer window by raiding the Blues for Cesar Azpilcueta.

Indeed, as reported by journalist Achraf Ben Ayad, Barça have made the 32-year-old Chelsea captain their next priority after closing the Jules Kounde deal.

Azpilicueta is in the final year of his contract and has been on Barcelona’s radar for a while now. The veteran defender is keen on joining the Blaugrana and has reached an agreement over personal terms already.

Talks with Chelsea had been going on well, but things have seemingly changed in recent times, with reports claiming that the Premier League giants are planning to block the Spaniard’s move to Barcelona.

Despite that, the Catalan heavyweights are prepared to make a hard push for the versatile defender as they have given a commitment to Azpilicueta and intend to honour it.

The 32-year-old, for his part, is also hopeful that a deal will go through, even though Chelsea could pose complications now that they have missed out on Kounde.

Barcelona need a new right-back after losing Dani Alves. While Kounde and Ronald Araujo are capable of playing in the position, it would benefit the Blaugrana to have a more natural player in the role and someone like Azpilicueta could also help Sergino Dest by taking the youngster under his shadow.

It will be interesting to see if negotiations between Barcelona and Chelsea go smoothly or if the Blues decide to create any roadblocks for the Catalans in their pursuit of Azpilicueta.