Chelsea ‘keeping close eye on’ Barcelona star after joining Liverpool in transfer race

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Chelsea are keeping tabs on Barcelona right-back Jules Kounde (Picture: Getty) Chelsea have stepped up their interest in Jules Kounde and are ‘keeping a close eye’ on the defender ahead of the summer transfer window, according to reports in Spain. Kounde has established himself as a regular in Hansi Flick’s starting XI and Barcelona’s hierarchy have no active plans to bring in an upgrade at right-back for next season.

There had been some positive signs of Kounde returning to his best over the winter, only for the full-back to go down with a muscle injury a month ago, meaning he has missed Barca’s last five matches in all competitions. Your football fix Metro's Head of Sport James Goldman delivers punchy analysis, transfer talk and his take on the week's biggest stories direct to your inbox every week.

Kounde is also being eyed by both Liverpool and Manchester City (Picture: Getty) The Frenchman is currently sidelined with a muscle injury (Picture: Getty) City are known to be long-term admirers of Kounde, while concrete interest from both Liverpool and Chelsea in a newer development. Kounde (left) won his second La Liga title with Barca last season (Picture: Getty) A deal of Kounde would raise funds for Barca’s top target Alvarez (Picture: Getty) ‘There wasn’t an offer as such, but City called to ask if he was available,’ Deco explained at the time. ‘Since we told them no, there was no offer.’ While Barca ideally wish to keep Kounde ‘to avoid a potential problem’, the possibility of a sale cannot be completely ruled out, especially if the player is no longer satisfied with the salary increase he received last summer and agitates for a move.