Yannick Carrasco duels for the ball with Jules Kounde during the match between Atletico Madrid and Sevilla at Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on May 15, 2022 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images)
Barcelona’s spending during the summer transfer window continues as the club has reached an agreement with Sevilla for star defender Jules Kounde.
After a couple of days of negotiations, the two sides came to a verbal agreement that sees the Catalan side vastly improve their backline and pull off another one over Chelsea.
The Blues believed they had Kounde’s signing all wrapped up, having reached the amount Sevilla were asking. But they were never able to get the go-ahead from the player who was waiting to see if Barcelona could pay a satisfactory fee to Sevilla.
The optimism in Barcelona grew over the weekend despite reports from England all but confirming the Frenchman going to Chelsea. A decent amount of credit is being given to Xavi Hernandez for convincing Kounde to join.
Kounde has been one of the best center-backs in LaLiga the last couple of seasons and has been linked with a move away since a few seasons ago. Chelsea had always the been most heavily linked and made an attempt two seasons ago which was unsuccessful.
Their second try didn’t go much better.
Defense is an area where Barcelona have struggled mightily. Aside from Ronald Araujo, the rest of the defenders have left much to be desired. This offseason, they also added Andreas Christensen on a free deal.
The pairing of Kounde and Araujo could potentially one of the best center-back duos in the world. His addition also adds some versatility.
In big games, Xavi has not been afraid to play Araujo at right-back. He could do the same with Kounde if they decide against trying to sign Cesar Azpilicueta — Chelsea are not going to make things easy after losing out on both Kounde and Raphinha. In any case, Xavi now has quality options to tinker with in his backline.
President Joan Laporta vowed to make Barcelona competitive once again. With Christensen, Raphinha, Robert Lewandowski, Franck Kessi and now Kounde, he’s certainly keeping his word. What’s more is Barcelona still might not be done with their transfer window shopping.
