Barcelona’s Jules Koundé Reveals That Pep Guardiola Previously Tried To Sign Him for Manchester City

• Barcelona and Chelsea were involved in a battle to try and sign Jules Koundé from Sevilla in the transfer window
• Jules Koundé has played three games for Barcelona this season and has already provided three assists
• Manchester City once tried to sign Jules Koundé as Pep Guardiola phoned the player himself to convince him

Jules Koundé is already proving to be a good fit at FC Barcelona but recently revealed that the move almost didn’t happen.

The French defender was the subject of a battle between Chelsea and Barcelona during the recent transfer window, but it was another English club that almost signed him way before Chelsea and Barcelona’s scrap.

As reported by Sport Bible, Manchester City almost lured the former Sevilla defender to the Etihad. Koundé explained that he received a phone call from Pep Guardiola during a previous transfer window when he was still in his first year in Spain.

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"He told me that he loved me and that he believed I would fit the way Manchester City plays," Koundé explained.

Guardiola would fail to bring the defender to England and then fail to sign Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly. City would then sign Ruben Dias, a player who has gone on to have great success with the club.

Koundé himself has had a good start to life at Barcelona. Despite missing the first few games of the season due to being unregistered, Koundé has hit the ground running when given the chance.

He's already played three games for the Catalan giants and provided three assists, Transfermarkt noted.

Jules Koundé pokes fun at Chelsea following UEFA Champions League defeat to Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb

It’s not a good time to be a Chelsea fan.

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The Blues suffered a surprising defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in the UEFA Champions League before sacking coach Thomas Tuchel. New Barcelona player Jules Koundé rubbed salt in the wounds when he poked fun of the team after the defeat in Croatia, Sports Brief earlier reported.

Koundé was on Chelsea’s radar throughout the transfer window but eventually rejected The Blues in favour of Barcelona.