Barcelona in talks with Jules Kounde alongside Real Madrid and Chelsea

Barcelona needs a centre-back. The problem of the frontline was solved by Xavi Hernandez in the winter transfer window but now he has to figure out the backline. Barca has been facing defense issues ever since Samuel Umtiti became injured in 2018 after the world cup. The French defender was one of the best in the world and he was supposed to be the face of the club’s defense like Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol. However, it was later found out that he was playing through pain and without proper attention to that pain, he became so injured that he could never find his form again.

Other defenders such as Pique and Clement Lenglet were no longer viable as well. While Pique is well past his prime and is no longer a world-class player due to his age, Lenglet was never a Barca-level player and his inconsistency and mistakes meant that the backline was always compromised. This changed a bit when Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza were picked up from the B team however, Xavi has evaluated that Mingueza is not up to the mark and Eric Garcia is too young to be playing consistently without making errors.

Barcelona join race to secure Sevilla’s wanted defender

Xavi wants an experienced talent who will play alongside Araujo and he has been looking at quite a few talents as a potential replacement for Lenglet and Umtiti. The main player that they wanted was Andreas Christensen however, with Bayern Munich now in the mix and the player himself stating that he could stay back at the club, they need to look for other players.

Jules Kounde is now on Barca’s watch list and it makes sense because if Christensen stays with the English side, then Chelsea does not need to pursue Kounde. However, Sevilla wanted 60 million for the player last year and that might be too much for the Catalans to give, so they need to keep other options open as well.