Barcelona intend to tie Chelsea target Jules Kounde down to a new long-term contract, reports in Spain claim.
The Frenchman's current Barcelona contract expires in 2027 and was signed when he arrived at the club from Sevilla two-and-a-half-years ago.
Kounde was initially drafted in to become one of Barcelona's two starting centre-backs, but he has evolved into world football's best full-backs, capable of providing quality overlapping runs in addition to his defensive duties.
He's regarded as an essential player in Hansi Flick's squad, Spanish publication SPORT report, and it's said the Catalan giants intend to reward his performances with a new long-term deal.
An inking of fresh terms may finally put to bed talk of a big-money move to Chelsea, who were interested in Kounde prior to his arrival at Barcelona. It's claimed that the Blues could consider putting forward an offer of 100m (�83.3m) this summer to try and engineer a move, but Barcelona will rebuff any advances as they look to add to the increasing number of players signing new long-term contracts.
Ronald Araujo and Pau Cubarsi have both put pen to paper on new contracts recently, running until 2031 and 2029 respectively, while La Masia academy graduates Pedri and Gavi have also committed to Barcelona for the long haul.
Barcelona hope Kounde will look to do the same, with the incentive that he can slot back into playing at centre-back should he so wish coupled with his enjoyment of playing under Flick as well as his settled status in Spain.
The report adds that the only planned overhaul to Barcelona's defence is the addition of Jonathan Tah on a free transfer from Bayer Leverkusen. The German is out of contract this summer and is expected to head to Spain at the potential expense of either Eric Garcia or Andreas Christensen.
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