New signing Jules Kounde was today unveiled as a Barcelona player, as the club beat Chelsea to the signing of the 23-year-old.

Barcelona’s director of football Mateu Alemany spoke at Kounde’s unveiling and revealed how the player’s agent kept calling him tirelessly.

According to Alemany, Kounde was so keen on signing for Barcelona that his agent Jonathan Kebe, kept calling.

Speaking about Kounde’s agent, Alemany said: “He was calling me every day to find out about fair play issues because Kounde wanted to come. I had to tell him to stop calling because I didn’t know what to say.

“After the second financial lever was activated he almost had a deal with another club [Chelsea] but Kounde wanted to come to Barca.”

Kounde in turn revealed how eager he was to sign up for the new Barcelona project.

“It’s true that I had the opportunity to sign for Chelsea but we had to wait for Barca to find an agreement with Sevilla,” Kounde said at his unveiling when asked about interest from Chelsea.

“When I saw that it was possible, I chose Barcelona, I was very clear about that. It’s a big club and an ambitious project.”