Why Barcelona must keep hold of Jules Koundé

As Atlético Madrid edged to a 2-0 first-leg victory within the Champions League on Wednesday night time, the a whole lot of thousands and thousands of Barcelona followers throughout the globe started to voice their displeasure and spotlight the necessity for an entire summer season rebuild. Such is the membership’s weighty commonplace that, even after a home treble and a run to the Champions League semifinals, and even amid a season that noticed them win the Supercopa de España and attain the Copa del Rey semifinals, Barcelona followers are already demanding change. Even with the membership sitting seven factors clear atop the LaLiga desk with merely eight matches to go, even with the Blaugranas on monitor to turn out to be the primary staff in a decade to win back-to-back LaLiga titles, it appears that evidently isn’t fairly ok.

It stays to be seen whether or not Barcelona are in a position to flip across the two-goal deficit subsequent week and ebook their ticket to the semifinals, however it’s clear that loads of adjustments are scheduled for the summer season. Barcelona are nonetheless weighing up whether or not to set off their buy choice on Marcus Rashford, whereas Robert Lewandowski and Andreas Christensen are anticipated to depart following the expiry of their contracts. A choice additionally must be made on loanee Joao Cancelo. Different gamers together with Ferran Torres, Ansu Fati, and Marc-André ter Stegen may very well be on the chopping block as properly. Nevertheless, one participant who ought to be thought-about off-limits close to a possible sale is Jules Koundé.

Born on November 12, 1998, Koundé was raised in Paris however acquired his begin in skilled soccer with Girondins de Bordeaux. Beneath the watchful eye of Gus Poyet, Koundé was in a position to make the step up from the youth staff to the primary staff, managing 4 objectives and one help in 70 appearances, and ultimately incomes the curiosity of Sevilla, who signed him for €25 million. It didn’t take lengthy for Koundé to justify that outlay, seamlessly adjusting from Ligue 1 to La Liga and spearheading Sevilla to the 2019-20 UEFA Europa League title. All issues thought-about, Koundé scored 9 objectives and added three assists in 133 appearances throughout his time with the Andalusian outfit. It was sufficient to see Barcelona splurge €50 million on him in 2022, in addition to comply with a stipulation that requires them to pay Sevilla €2.5 million for each season by 2026-27 the place he makes an look of not less than 45 minutes in 60% of the staff’s video games.

“I keep in mind going to Bordeaux, he had solely performed three matches earlier than I arrived, and the primary week of coaching, I noticed right away that Koundé could be an essential participant for me,” acknowledged Poyet in an unique interview for Barça Blaugranes. “The factor that I like most about Jules is that he loves the game. He loves basketball. He’s at all times seeking to enhance. We even had a coaching session within the afternoon, solely him, me, and my assistant, as a result of he wished to coach one thing specifically. Once they known as me from Sevilla to find out about his persona, I couldn’t communicate extra extremely of him. They knew the participant, however they didn’t know the particular person, and he’s a prime skilled.

“Going to Sevilla was the proper step to go to Barcelona. For me, I play Koundé at middle again, however he’s taking part in extra as a fullback now. However I believe he can play there as a result of he actually likes to assault with the ball, although his power is in defending. He’s a really clever participant, and it was very pleasurable to play with him. I used to be very fortunate personally, and really unfortunate professionally, to have the ability to face France in Euro 2024 qualifying throughout my time accountable for Greece. I used to be in a position to meet Jules and Aurélien [Tchouaméni] earlier than the sport in Paris, and it was a pleasure to spend 5 minutes with them speaking about our time in Bordeaux…it was an important second for me.”

It didn’t take lengthy for Koundé to ascertain himself as Barcelona’s beginning proper again, providing consistency and readability to a place that had been a weak point ever since Dani Alves’ departure. Whereas it appeared that he was initially sad with taking part in exterior his pure function of middle again, Koundé has however been in a position to ship a run of world-class performances on the suitable facet of protection beneath Xavi. He’s managed to take his sport up one other stage beneath Hansi Flick, bombing up and down the suitable flank and permitting Lamine Yamal to chop inside onto his stronger left foot, and whip in harmful crosses when wanted. Furthermore, he’s additionally been in a position to shift right into a makeshift middle again function, maintaining issues tight on the again and bringing the ball out of the primary third. And don’t overlook that winner within the Copa del Rey ultimate in opposition to Actual Madrid.

Barcelona have come undone in recent times because of various high-profile errors and expulsions from middle backs like Pau Cubarsí and Ronald Araújo, however so far as Koundé is anxious, these errors haven’t fairly plagued his sport. Regardless of taking part in in an extremely excessive line, Koundé is ready to push up and pressure opposing forwards offside in addition to drop again when required and maintain his personal in 1v1 challenges. He always has his head on a swivel, ready to shift his positioning or placed on the afterburners when wanted, and while he’s removed from the tallest participant, he’s however confirmed adept at sizing up opposing forwards in aerial duels.

The stats don’t lie: Koundé ranks second in Barcelona’s squad with 58.3 correct passes per UEFA Champions League match (92% accuracy), in addition to rating joint-first for tackles per sport (2.1) and second for interceptions per 90 (1.2). However maybe essentially the most essential stat is his availability: he’s missed simply 26 matches for membership and nation since becoming a member of Barcelona in 2022. In that very same timeframe, he’s performed 183 instances for Barcelona. Whereas so many different Barcelona defenders like Alejandro Balde and Andreas Christensen are falling prey to damage regularly, Koundé stays the Blaugranas’ Iron Man. It’s why Barcelona shouldn’t even be contemplating promoting Koundé this summer season: at 27, he’s nonetheless within the prime of his profession, and he’s going to proceed to ship the best caliber of performances for so long as he’s at Camp Nou.