The sports director confirms that the Frenchman was from Chelsea last Thursday, but that the English team hesitated and Barça called them on Monday
MADRID, 29 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The general sporting director of Sevilla, Ramón Rodríguez Verdejo, ‘Monchi’, admits that they have sold the French central defender Jules Koundé “to the best possible offer and to the club that has bet the most on him”, a FC Barcelona that did not express their interest until “Monday” when Chelsea, with whom they had an agreement last Thursday, had “some doubt”.
Monchi, in an interview with the official Sevilla media, recounted how the signing of Koundé had developed, an important sale along with that of the other central defender in recent years, Diego Carlos, something they had not done “in the past” and that he considered, in both cases, “magnificent” in order to alleviate the “economic problem” that they currently have “by having changed the business format a little”.
“We have sold Koundé with the best possible offer and to the club that has bet the most on him, so I am particularly satisfied. In a difficult and complicated moment, with a very stagnant market, we have done what we had to do, always defending the interests Sevilla above anything else, and in this case it was the need to sell Diego and Jules,” he said.
The director recognized that “at the beginning of the market there were more suitors” for the French than “at the end”, where the best placed was Chelsea, with whom both the Sevilla club and the player even had “a verbal agreement” last Thursday .
“But since this football thing never ceases to surprise you, some doubt arose at Chelsea and over the weekend it stopped. And in that tug-of-war Barça appeared, and I want to say that the first time Mateo Alemany contacted me was the Monday, which is when he conveys his interest to us. We asked him for an offer that was lower than the one we had in mind and after working, with a significant effort from Barça, an amount was reached that I believe is important and that will mean the sale the club’s most important player”, continued Monchi.
He pointed out that they have had to “negotiate in difficult conditions” and that, since he had two years left on his contract, if he did not leave this year, they would be “practically ‘dead’ next year, in addition to being” the third time “that They denied the defense the exit.
“Under these conditions, the club has been able to obtain important figures without paying a commission euro. I think the offer is very good, whether we like it or not, because the market dictates the prices and the ones we had two years ago from City and last year for Chelsea they were always around the same amount. We had the need to sell it,” said the exporter.
Monchi admitted that the London team “wanted to return” to the bid for the Frenchman, but reiterated that “Barça’s offer was the best”, and downplayed the complaints of having reinforced a direct rival. “For me, Sevilla is the best team in the world and although it’s nice to be a direct rival, we’re not. They start to win everything and we, although we’re ambitious, are on another level and we don’t start with the same goals”, clarified.
The Sevilla sports general director also explained that the business model they are betting on is to “generate capital gains with sales and purchases” in order to maintain a workforce “well above” its cost, and that now, “the most urgent” is to sign a center back and a left back.
“We are working and we want to be as effective as possible with the investment capacity we have, which is limited, and I hope that next week we can say something. There are options channeled with players that will allow us to maintain the level of the squad” , Monchi ruled that, after closing these incorporations, he would not give up more reinforcements depending on what “the economy” gives them.
