Sevilla centre-back Jules Kounde has reportedly decided to reject Chelsea's advances and sign for Barcelona this summer.
The France international has been a long-time target of the Blues, who have already tried and failed to secure his signature in the past two transfer windows.
Chelsea reignited their interest earlier in the summer and were understood to have been making significant progress in their efforts to sign Kounde for the 2022-23 season.
One report even claimed that the Blues were hopeful of concluding a deal to sign the 23-year-old by Friday, and the player himself has already hinted that his time at Sevilla is up.
However, Barcelona - in spite of their financial problems - have not given up hope of luring Kounde to Camp Nou, and Blaugrana boss Xavi may now finally get his man.
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According to AS, Kounde has now chosen to rebuff Chelsea's attempts to sign him and is poised to join Barcelona after maintaining constant contact with Xavi.
Barcelona and Sevilla will now attempt to thrash out an agreement over a fee, although the Palanganas are supposedly yet to receive an official offer for the centre-back.
Nevertheless, Kounde is said to have given Xavi his word that he will join the club after being promised a starring role under the former Blaugrana midfielder for the 2022-23 season.
Once Barcelona receive a £227m cash injection for the sale of 15% of their TV rights, the Blaugrana will hope to wrap up a €55m (£46.8m) for Kounde in the coming hours.
The former Bordeaux man prepares to leave Sevilla after contributing nine goals and three assists in 133 matches, winning the Europa League in the 2019-20 season.
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Kounde would represent Barcelona's sixth major summer signing, following Robert Lewandowski, Raphinha, Andreas Christensen, Franck Kessie and Pablo Torre to Camp Nou.
However, by hijacking Chelsea's move for Kounde, Barcelona may have hindered their chances of signing Cesar Azpilicueta and Marcos Alonso from Thomas Tuchel's side.
The pair have both been tipped to head for La Liga this summer, but Chelsea may be reluctant to do business with the Catalan club following the Kounde saga.
Kounde has demonstrated his capabilities as a right-back as well as a central defender for club and country, though, so Barcelona are reportedly ready to end their search for a new right-back if the Frenchman joins.
Meanwhile, Chelsea are being tipped to turn their attention to Paris Saint-Germain's Presnel Kimpembe after seemingly conceding defeat in the race for Kounde.
Ben Knapton
