Chelsea FC were long considered the hottest candidate for a move for Jules Koundé, but then Barcelona struck. Sevilla manager Monchi explained in detail how it all came about.
First Diego Carlos to Aston Villa, then Jules Koundé to FC Barcelona: Sevilla FC lost their core central defence in this summer transfer period, which was the envy of many a rival. On the other hand, there has been little activity on the purchasing side, with only Marcao from Galatasaray signed so far. No wonder, then, that their own fans are anything but pleased with their club’s transfer policy.
But Sevilla apparently have no choice, as renowned Sevilla manager Monchi explained: “In the last three years we have only made one major sale. This summer we had a financial problem because we didn’t sell before. That led us to make the sales we didn’t make in the past. These are two great sales. “
However, the fact that Sevilla preferred to sell Koundé to a league rival rather than to a club in England was not for everyone either. That’s why Monchi let us take a look behind the scenes.
Actually, everything was already clear with Chelsea. Last Thursday, a verbal agreement had already been reached with the Blues and also with the centre-back. All of a sudden, however, the Tuchel team backed out. “At the last moment, some doubts from Chelsea led to everything being stopped at the weekend, and for the first time they contacted us from Barcelona on Monday. Not before. They made us an offer that was lower than what we had imagined. And then they came to a significant amount,” Monchi said. According to reports, the Andalusians will pocket 50 million euros plus possible bonuses of 10 million euros.
Monchi did not give figures. “It was a very good offer,” he said only. “We had to sell him, we said that calmly. We sold with the best possible offer and to the club that bet the most.” He added that it was true that Chelsea wanted to come back in the end, “but Barcelona’s offer was better than Chelsea’s. The best offer we received was the one from Barcelona. “
Monchi is self-critical
He doesn’t see the Catalans as a direct competitor anyway. “We are a very ambitious club with a lot of pride, but we are at a different level. They can buy a player from us for many millions of euros and we can’t.” He said they must continue to reduce the squad’s salary level, but equally reinvest the income. “Our squad has cost 198 million euros. And of course I made mistakes with some of that spending. And as a result of those mistakes, we have reached this situation. We have also had some successes. I am the first to be self-critical.”
At the centre-back and left-back positions, Monchi sees a need for the Champions League contender. “We are trying to be as effective as possible. We don’t have enough financial resources. I hope next week the two positions can be covered so the coach can work with them. Once we finalise them, we will see what is left of the salary cap and our profit and loss account. “
