Sevilla's sporting director confirms Kounde’s transfer to Barcelona

The 23-year-old France centre-back attracted Chelsea and Manchester City this summer and is set to join

in the coming weeks. Monchi told the

confirmed the departure of Kounde:

"When the two best players leave a team, the challenge to replace them is not easy, but we feel good about this.

"We really trust [Julen] Lopetegui, our manager, because we sell players, but we are sure the players we sign will be better."

It is believed that

will join Barcelona for a reported €55m fee which gives Sevilla significant funds to land replacements as they lately signed Marcao from Galatasaray. Sevilla's hunt for further additions will see them continue to utilize a data-led approach. With many clubs following their approach recently, the Andulasians have had to adapt their ways in recent years.

Monchi explained:

"Many years ago, we started to do things differently, but other teams started to do them, too. We wanted to do something different again and data gives us two main things. It reduces the error factor and the time for decision-making [in recruitment].

"In the past, what we had to do was look at 300 players, but today with data, maybe that is reduced to 30 with the right characteristics and you can watch them all. You reduce the time and you reduce the error."

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