Jules Kounde was a target for Barcelona last summer

Taking into account that Oscar Mingueza has mostly been used as a right-back, Barcelona have five central defenders in their squad. Pique, Araujo, Eric Garcia, Lenglet and Umtiti. The latter, injured, basically doesn’t count for the coaches, having played just one game this season. Last summer another Frenchman could have arrived - Jules Kounde.

The Sevilla man is one of the most desired players in the world in his position and Barcelona were among those vying for him. Mateu Alemany was in charge of negotiations with Monchi, Sevilla’s sporting director. Competition was strong with Chelsea fighting too. Barcelona made an offer of two players and money. One of them was Sergino Dest. Monchi listened. Dest is a player he has always liked and whom he thought about in winter too. In the end neither Barcelona or Chelsea got Kounde.

Monchi decided that if any club wanted him they would have to pay his 80 million euro release clause. The same strategy he used when Newcastle wanted Diego Carlos a few months ago. He has an 85m euro release clause. Monchi has been rewarded with the pair featuring strongly in their hopes of winning La Liga and potentially the Europa League.

With Christensen virtually tied up it seems Kounde will not be on the menu for Barcelona this summer, but they will be paying attention to what happens. If Pique unexpectedly steps back, then they could reactivate their interest.