Chelsea suffer yet another HUGE transfer blow with Barcelona set to snatch Sevilla star Jules Kounde from them despite having £55m offer accepted - with defender's shirt ALREADY available on LaLiga giants' website

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Barcelona are growing in confidence that they will beat Chelsea to the signing of Jules Kounde from Sevilla.

Chelsea were hopeful of landing French centre back Kounde for around £55million to add to £34m arrival Kalidou Koulibaly, as they target defenders after losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers this summer. 

However, Barcelona have made their move and are pushing to pip Chelsea to Kounde’s signature. 

Barcelona are increasingly likely to snatch Jules Kounde away from Chelsea with a late swoop

Boss Xavi looks to have won the race for the Frenchman having already lured away Raphinha

The Spanish club temporarily had Kounde’s shirt for sale on their website yesterday. Barca pulled off a similar trick to hijack Chelsea’s move to sign Raphinha from Leeds, after the Blues had agreed a fee for the Brazilian.

Chelsea came close to signing Kounde, 23, last summer and earlier in this window there was a strong belief in Spain that a move to Stamford Bridge was inevitable once the Todd Boehly takeover was completed.

However, Chelsea moved for Koulibaly and made attempts for other centre backs Matthijs de Ligt, who instead joined Bayern Munich, and Nathan Ake, who is staying at Manchester City, before returning to Kounde.

They are now prepared to walk away from Kounde if the saga drags on. Their other defensive targets include Paris Saint-Germain’s Presnel Kimpembe, Inter Milan’s Milan Skriniar and RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol.

Barcelona have already managed to beat Chelsea in the race to sign ex-Leeds star Raphinha 

Kounde's shirt name was available for purchase temporarily on Barcelona's website, hinting that the deal is on the brink of being finalised. 

The Spanish club have swiftly deleted the name, eager not to stir any extra speculation ahead of his seemingly imminent signature.

Kounde made no secret of his desire to join Barcelona were the LaLiga giants were able to raise the funds to compete with Chelsea financially.

The 23-year-old centre-back made 32 appearances in the top flight last season as Sevilla finished fourth behind Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid.

Chelsea are expected to make life incredibly difficult for Barcelona in their pursuit of Blues veteran Cesar Azpilicueta, should Todd Boehly miss out on Kounde as he did Raphinha.

Chelsea are likely to block Barcelona's bid for Cesar Azpilicueta if Kounde joins the Catalans

The ex-Leeds star hit the ground running under Xavi, scoring the winner for his new team in a 1-0 win against Real Madrid on Sunday. 

He was also joined on the pitch alongside former Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski, who featured in his first El Clasico since arriving for £42.5m nine days ago.

Azpilicueta, despite wearing the captain's armband at Stamford Bridge, is keen to seal a move to Barcelona, following in the footsteps of former team-mate Andreas Christensen, who arrived on a free transfer at the start of July.

Due to ongoing financial complications, the Nou Camp chiefs initially struggled to attack the market in pursuit of their summer targets, but have since freed up funds through TV rights sales.

They completed the second deal with Sixth Street to sell a further 15 percent of their TV rights last week, having previously agreed to offload just 10 percent.

With added cash in hand, Barcelona are exceedingly likely to hand Sevilla an agreeable offer very soon and provide Kounde with an opportunity to snub Chelsea.