Last summer, Manchester City were intent on signing a central defender to transform their defence after a season which saw them fall short both domestically and in Europe.
Pep Guardiola’s side eventually joined Portuguese international Ruben Dias from Benfica in a club record £64million deal, which saw Nicolas Otamendi go the other way.
Dias enjoyed a star role in his opening campaign for City, helping them to regain their Premier League title and reach their first ever Champions League final – but it was not always destined to be this way.
City had previously identified Jules Kounde of Sevilla as their number one transfer target and had even lodged a transfer approach with the Andalusian club, which was rejected.
(Image: SIPA USA/PA Images)
An offer in the region of €50million (£42.7m) plus a further €5m in add-ons for Kounde was dismissed, with City later turning to Benfica – whose signing of Otamendi as part of the Dias transaction smoothed over the transfer.
Sevilla are a club whose business model is built on the acceptance that their star players will be sold; they cannot compete economically with Europe’s leading clubs, but such has been the acumen at business level – exemplified by sporting director Monchi – they have made sales of star players a virtue.
Their stance on Kounde last summer was an indication that the club – who had just won the Europa League title for the sixth time in 15 years – were economically much stronger than in previous years and now held a stronger hand in negotiations.
It also highlighted what every regular watcher of Spanish football knows: Kounde is a very special player and is destined for greatness if he is not at that level already.
Sevilla knew that €50million was a bargain and the Frenchman’s true market value was significantly higher. They also know that his release clause is €80million (£68m), so there was significantly more room for negotiations.
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Now aged 22, Kounde has emerged as the main defensive target for Chelsea this summer and the club have opened negotiations with the Spanish side for his transfer.
Sevilla knew that this sale would come and were aware that it is the move that can fund their own transfer bans and ongoing squad rebuilding project.
Kounde was signed in the summer of 2019 from Bordeaux – where he had clocked up 70 senior appearances – in a €25million deal and has swiftly established himself as a star in La Liga.
Last season, he was selected in the league’s team of the season by performance analysis website Whoscored.com and was also named in The Guardian ’s strongest league XI of the campaign.
Kounde’s speed, reading of the game and positioning on the pitch are what sets him apart; able to carry the ball out of the pitch just as easily as making last-ditch blocks to save certain goals.
Earlier this year, the CIES Football Observatory rated him as the fifth most valuable central defender in the world and it is his all-round game that make him so valuable, capable of dribbling through players, building attacks from deep with his passing ability and – despite standing at just 1.78m tall – possesses deceptive aerial ability due to his athleticism and positioning.
Analysis from Fbref.com shows just how good on the ball Kounde is; in the top percentile range of all central defenders in Europe’s elite leagues on every possession-based measurement and in the top two percent of ‘dribbles completed’, top four percent of ‘progressive passes’ and top one percentile of ‘touches in the opposition area’ – demonstrating his excellence going forward as much as in defence.
The most notable thing of all is that Kounde is still aged just 22 and is improving each season, having played a major role in the Europa League title last year and progress to the Champions League knockout stages the following campaign.
Thomas Tuchel has earmarked the position for heavy investment after the exits of Fikayo Tomori and Marc Guehi, while the futures of Antonio Rudiger and Kurt Zouma are also uncertain, with Thiago Silva celebrating his 37 th birthday in September.
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