Over the past few hours, there has been a lot of speculation about FC Barcelona defender Jules Kounde and his future at the club.
It was Toni Juanmarti who broke the news that the 24-year-old had opened the doors for an exit in the summer, after having grown unhappy over being played as a right-back consistently ahead of his preferred centre-back position.
Building on those claims, more reports emerged stating that Barça value him at around €80 million and that Chelsea, after missing out on Kounde’s signature last year, would be willing to go for him.
Now, though, Javi Miguel of AS has come up with a fresh report which states that Kounde has not informed Xavi or Barcelona that he is open to an exit. The Blaugrana dressing room fully denies claims of the 24-year-old wanting to leave in the summer.
Kounde was claimed to be one of the ‘non-transferables’, but reports suggested that he could be willing to consider an exit if his situation changes.
However, Javi Miguel reports that Kounde did meet with manager Xavi Hernandez recently and informed him that he does not wish to continue playing as a right-back moving forward.
The Frenchman told his manager that he does not feel comfortable out wide and wants to feature in his natural role in the middle of the backline.
However, never did the defender tell Xavi that he would be considering an exit in the summer, and the locker room has categorically denied any such reports.
Instead, it is stated that Barcelona will look to sign a new right-back in the summer so that they can relocate Kounde to his natural position.
The likes of Juan Foyth and Joao Cancelo have been touted as targets, with the latter said to be the No. 1 option now with a loan move for the Portuguese ace under consideration.
