So far, Barcelona has done a considerable task to retain most of their stars since the global pandemic, despite a considerable financial crisis that has hindered their plans in the past five years. The only big departure for which the club was not open, albeit extremely important, were Lionel Messi and Ousmane Dembele. Manchester City tries to change that.
Director of Football Deco has placed a special emphasis on retaining the most important stars of the club before he wanted to bring large signing sessions, as evidenced by a flurry of contract innovations for Pedri, Gavi, Ronald Araujo and Lamine Yamal, among others. The next that follows would in theory Jules Kounde, who no longer has a contract in the summer of 2027.
City is, however, interested in the French defender, who excelled in central defense in Seville and has performed well on the right back for the Blaugrana in the past three seasons. The French journalist Fabrice Hawkins reports that Manchester City is one of the two top clubs who have inquired for his countryman.
Barcelona has been trying to negotiate a new deal with Kounde for several weeks, after the first reports of negotiations were created in February this year and Hawkins explains that both Kounde and Barcelona are hopeful in a deal, with the last to consider him the best in the world in his position.
Barcelona wants to close a new deal before the next summer, when they might be forced to lower his asking price. In recent months there have been a number of links to both Chelsea and Arsenal in the Premier League, where the first is said to be in regular contact with his agent in regular contact. The blues also tried to sign Kounde when he left Seville in 2021. It would be no surprise if his representation was in contact with Premier League parties to test the market and see what kind of salary Kaounde could be offered elsewhere.