MONCHI: 'NEITHER THE PRICE NOR THE DEADLINE WAS MET FOR KOUNDÉ.'

31/08/2021

The sporting director spoke in detail about the rumours surrounding the transfer of the French centre-back

On the last day of the transfer window, Monchi addressed the situation regarding Koundé: 'The chances of Jules leaving are the same as any player who has a clause in his contract. If they pay the clause, we can't do anything about it. A lot of clubs have shown interest in him throughout the window, and the player himself has rejected the majority of them. The only written, formal offer from Chelsea came last Wednesday. We weren't satisfied with the offer, and it was linked to Chelsea selling a player. It was a decent fee but it didn't meet our criteria. His agent knew that as time went on, reaching an agreement would be more difficult especially as we had set August 20th as the deadline date. Out of respect for all parties involved, we then extended the deadline to Friday night. However since then, we have not received any offer from Chelsea. The cards were on the table with an offer from Chelsea, and a formal response from Sevilla. We all decided that it was best Jules didn't travel to Elche. Jules is a wonderful professional, but at the end of the day, he is only human and it's normal for players to be affected by news of any kind. He's a young player who's been linked to many big clubs, last year he had the interest from City and now Chelsea this year. The most important thing for us was to make sure that he was 100% fit to travel.'

The sporting director also described how the club has dealt with this matter over the past few days: 'There are many different ways to deal with matters in the footballing world. We responded to the only offer that we had received in the way we had to. Everyone wants what's best for them, and the player himself has rejected offers from other clubs, something the club respects greatly. I respect the fact that he has rejected other offers, which we have dealt with in a respectful and swift manner. We told his agent quite a while ago now that there was a deadline day for any negotiations, which was August 20. However, we received an offer on August 25, which also depended on Zouma joining West Ham, but we responded with respect to Chelsea as well as the player by declining as it was not with our best interests in mind. This situation does not need to get out of hand. I don't want Sevillistas to start reporting Chelsea's Twitter account. In simple terms, we were unable to reach an agreement.'

Monchi also touched upon details in the contract: 'Koundé's clause never went up to 90 million euros. It has always been 80 million. It never went up to that price in recent days because that figure was never in the player's contract.' On the other hand, he spoke about the player's international duty with the French national team: 'The player did not go to France on holiday. He went a day early to join up with the French national team, and he is focused on his duty with the national team. There will be more time to discuss the matter at a later date.'

'Koundé did not go to France on holiday. He joined up with the French national team a day early.'

Monchi was not worried about the fans' reaction to the situation regarding Koundé: 'If you listen to the explanation that I have given, I think they will understand that it is completely normal. We had the same situation with Daniel, but things were slightly more complicated there. But Sevilla fans love him all the same and don't hold any grudges against him. In the football world sometimes, we take for granted that decisions are easy because of the money involved. Regardless of how much we earn, we all have the right to doubt things. He is a wonderful professional, but he is only human.'

In regards to extending the Frenchman's contract with the club, he admits that now is not the time to discuss that matter: 'Currently, we need to let the situation die down so that things can fall back into place. There has been a lot of rumours surrounding Jules, so we need to give him time to process these. We have a bit of time now to assess things, but in October, we will start planning again.'

Rejecting the offer is not a change in strategy: 'It is not a new strategy, it is just a decision the club made . This club always tries to be reasonable when it comes to decision making by weighing up the pros and cons. In Jules' case, the club received an offer that it assessed with great detail, but in the end decided that it was not sufficient. In order to accept an offer, you need to consider the sum as well as the circumstances. In this case, neither were sufficient, and that is why we decided to reject it. This club has a transfer strategy that has brought us success, and we have to assess the offers before accepting them.'

'It is not a new strategy, it is just a decision the club made.'

Lastly, he referred to two different situations, the first being Ocampos' situation: 'The fact that Sevilla does not always issue statements regarding players' injuries. When I think that even the smallest of details can either benefit or harm the team, I will always choose the former. Sometimes the criticism that we receive is deserved, but there is always an explanation for our decisions. Lucas is getting there, it isn't a serious injury, but we simply did not want to rush things. I hope he will be available as soon as possible.'

The second situation involved De Jong: 'I would like to clarify some statements made by the PSV coach the other day because perhaps things got lost in translation. Luuk made the decision not to join PSV. He wants to contribute to the team here, and I am confident that he can do so. He is a great professional, and that is shown through the interest in him. We have three very good strikers as well as the energy and youth in Iván.'