Barcelona still have Jules Koundé high on their wish list. Mundo Deportivo assures that the 22-year-old center defender of Sevilla is preferred over Matthijs de Ligt for the time being. However, Sevilla’s hefty asking price poses a major problem for Barcelona in the hunt for Koundé, with considerations being given to offering Konrad de la Fuente, Francisco Trincão or possibly Clément Lenglet in exchange.
Manchester City was already emphatically in the market for Koundé in the summer of 2020. Sevilla rejected an offer of 55 million euros at the time. The single French international has a surrender clause of eighty million euros in his contract with Sevilla until mid-2024 los Rojiblancos Interested clubs have provisionally pointed out the limited transfer fee. That means according to Mundo Deportivo not that Koundé can only leave for eighty million euros, but in any case more than sixty million euros must be on the table.
That asking price is a problem for financially destitute Barcelona, especially because Real Madrid and several Premier League clubs are also in the market for Koundé. The only way for Barcelona to convince Sevilla is to include players in an offer in addition to a sum of money. Mundo Deportivo lists the names of De la Fuente, Trincão and Lenglet as possible candidates for an exchange deal.
Lenglet – generally a basic player in Ronald Koeman’s team in the past year – was acquired by Barcelona in the summer of 2018 from Sevilla for 36 million euros. Trincão has only been playing in Catalonia for a year, having been taken over from SC Braga a year ago for €31 million and making 42 official appearances this season, and youth product De la Fuente is still waiting for his breakthrough in Barcelona’s main squad. Koundé has been under contract with Sevilla since 2019, which transferred 25 million euros to Girondins de Bordeaux for him. So far, he has 89 official games for Sevilla to his name.
Mundo Deportivo states that Koundé will be preferred over De Ligt for the time being. The the Dutch international announced last week that a switch to Barcelona is not an issue. “When the moment comes, you have to think about it, but as long as they don’t come, I don’t have to think about it. That is not important to me now,” De Ligt said ESPN. However, it is now sounding from Spain that the arrival of Massimiliano Allegri may play into Barcelona’s hands. The new Juventus coach would like to bring Miralem Pjanic back to Turin and that could offer Barcelona the opportunity to bring up De Ligt. His agent Mino Raiola also has a good relationship with Barcelona president Joan Laporta.
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