Chelsea and Barcelona fight to sign Jules Conde from Seville (Getty).

The president of “Barcelona” Joan Laporta suggested that “Chelsea” won the deal with Sevilla’s central defender Jules Conde.

Chelsea saw a £55m offer on Koundé rejected by Sevilla this week and the French team agreed to a five-year deal.

However, Barcelona have also expressed interest in the Kunde deal, with the defender reportedly having decided to meet with Spanish club Sevilla on Thursday night.

Barcelona have not yet offered themselves to Sevilla as economic conditions have hampered their transfer plans this summer.

However, Laporta appears to have been beaten in Barcelona’s attempt to match Chelsea’s offer.

In a conversation with a Barcelona fan captured by Lelevo, Laporta was asked if the club was buying Koundé and he replied: “No, he’s going to Chelsea.”

Chelsea lost once to Barcelona this summer after Rafinha got stuck on a move to Stamford Bridge and eventually moved to Campnow.

Although a fee of £55m was agreed between Chelsea and Leeds United, Rafinha always preferred to attend Barcelona and the Brazilian team waited a few weeks for the deal to be signed.

Chelsea may be worried that Koundé is using similar tactics after deciding to join the Sevilla squad for pre-season training in Portugal on Thursday.

Initially, it was reported that Koundé skipped his trip to Portugal, eventually leaving Seville.

Following a €40m (£34m) deal with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly last weekend, Thomas Tuchel is keen to sign two more centre-backs from Chelsea.

Chelsea are in talks with Paris Saint-Germain over a Presnel Kimpembe deal, but RB Leipzig’s 20-year-old centre-back Josco Guardioli is also on the shortlist.

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