Izuchukwu Okosi
France international Joules Koundé’ has expressed his elation on Thursday after Sevilla and Barcelona agreed to a move to the Blaugrana for the centreback and credited former Spain and Barcelona star Xaxi Hernandez as the reason he chose to sign for the La Liga giants.
Chelsea had shown keen interest to sign the defender but Barcelona just as they did with forward Raphinha hijacked the deal to snap up the player of Cameroonian descent.
Join our WhatsApp Channel“I’m really proud, grateful. I can’t wait to join the team start this Barcelona story.” #FCB, Koundé wrote on his Instagram handle.
“I say thank you to Sevilla but of course Barça is a top step in my career – so here I wanna win all competitions.”
Koundé then confirmed that head coach Xavi Hernández is the man who changed the deal after his expected move to Chelsea:
“Xavi is a big reason as to why I’m here. His spiel convinced me, I’m excited to start working with the team”. 🔵🔴 #FCB
“It’s clear that we see football in the same way,” Koundé enthused.
An interesting aspect of the defender’s arrival at Barcelona will be his working relationship with left back Jordi Alba whom he had a flashpoint with in one of the La Liga fixtures between Sevilla and Barcelona last year.
