The Kounde mystery: Why is the Barça defender back in training already?

The Kounde mystery: Why is the Barça defender back in training already?

| sport

The centre-back was ruled out for up to a month but appeared to be training on Thursday

Barcelona released a video of training Thursday, Sept. 29 as they prepared for Saturday's visit to Mallorca and the return of LaLiga following the international break.

In said images, defender Jules Kounde could be seen taking part in the preparation work ahead of the session, despite currently being injured.

Kounde returned from France duty with an injury after being taken off in the first half of his country's 2-0 win over Austria in Paris.

He returned to Barcelona for tests and they revealed the worst: a biceps femoris injury in his left hamstring.

Barça did not reveal how long he would be out of action but it was speculated he would be missing between two and four weeks, with Ronald Araujo, Frenkie de Jong and Memphis Depay also returning injured from international duty.

However, Thursday's training video showed Kounde alongside his teammates. It can't be seen what intensity he is working at, but Andreas Christensen appears alongside him, so it seems he was part of the group training.

The Clasico against Real Madrid is on the horizon on Oct. 16 and there is a double header in the Champions League before then against Inter Milan.

Topics with the letter