Barcelona desperately need a new Carles Puyol. Will it be Jules Koundé?

An ideal reinforcement for Barcelona’s defence. Day by day, there is more talk about the Catalan big club’s interest in Jules Koundé’s services. Although the club has an agreement with Andreas Christensen and Ronald Araujo, Gerard Piqué and Éric Garcia are in the squad. The French youngster is believed to be coveted by Xavi, who believes he would be a good fit for the Blaugranas‘ style of play.

Jules Koundé has been praised especially for his great midfield and pulling up when challenging the opposition. The Frenchman distributes the ball out of defence with ease and balances it into the opponent’s half, as evidenced by his statistics. The Sevilla player is second in LaLiga in the number of forward passes (821), behind only Leandro Cabrera (941).

He is even better than Pau Torres (805). The 23-year-old Frenchman’s success rate is 89%. Honest defensive play is one of the cornerstones of Xavi’s concept, so in this respect Koundé would fit perfectly into the team of the forty-two-year-old coach.

Another typical feature of Barcelona’s defence is playing with a drawn-out defence. The team therefore needs stoppers who thrive away from their own penalty area. In this respect too, Koundé stands out for his anticipation and speed, which allows him to get back in front of goal at the right moment.

Jules tries to anticipate the reactions of his opponents and succeeds, as evidenced by forty successful interceptions out of fifty attempts, an 80% success rate. The Frenchman can also quickly correct a mistake made by himself or a teammate.

The statistics show that Koundé doesn’t like to stop actions with fouls. Last season he committed only fifteen fouls in 32 games. He spent 2,737 minutes on the pitch, so every 182 minutes the referee stops the game because of his foul – once every two games.

If we’re talking about a defender, that’s a truly remarkable number. But it doesn’t mean that Koundé avoids hard play – he received two red cards last season, but also only two yellow cards. He was fouled fifteen times himself. Judging by the above game specifics and excellent head play, in many ways he resembles the play of Carles Puyol on the pitch.

In addition, they share the same height, namely 178 centimetres. However, the Frenchman must learn to walk more carefully into his interventions. The legendary Barcelona defender has only received three red cards in 593 games in his career.

It will not be easy at all for the Catalan big club to get Koundé into their team. Even the leverage may not allow them to pay Sevilla the required transfer fee, which is around €60 million. In addition, they have to deal with competitors like Chelsea, who, according to the English media, are already in agreement with the player.

Source: FC Barca