Jules Koundé | Signs for Barcelona

[CM]

Of all the centre backs we've been linked to I do think Kounde is the one who would be the best partner for Maguire, and possibly worth spending big on. Most others seem much of a muchness with Lindelof.

 

[Adnan]

That's a fair concern. I'm just tired of rolling the dice on CB again, Varane is a classy defender that SAF really liked, and almost signed a decade ago.

I see where you're coming from mate. But for me, I'm hoping we go for a younger CB, who is showing immense potential. That's something we haven't done for a long time. Lindelof and Bailly were decent young talents in Spain and Portugal, but IMO, not close to being among the best in their class.

Kounde, Fofana, Konate are the profile of players who will give us the option to play a more expansive game due to their physical and athletic capabilities. Varane can also give us the same but I feel we have enough experience with Maguire, Lindelof etc and should target a younger CB at this stage who fits the profile.

 

[Adnan]

Would he actually be possible with Atalanta having first option or a buy clause?

According to reports, Atalanta will take up the option to sign him for 16m and then sell him on for 40m.

 

[AltiUn]

That's a fair concern. I'm just tired of rolling the dice on CB again, Varane is a classy defender that SAF really liked, and almost signed a decade ago.

Also a fair opinion.

 

[Adnan]

So if Di Marzio is correct, and Sevilla are asking for €65m, which is a tad under £56m. Then maybe we can structure a deal over the next few years, which might make the deal a possibility.

 

[non profit football]

He was an excellent purchase for Sevilla but I have serious doubts about what could be at a higher level and if he is a player who deserves an investment of 50 or 60 million euros.
He has been playing games at a very debatable level.

Last year the whole world was crazy with Koulibaly and Upamecano, logic and rationality really are always away from the world of football, English clubs should be more careful when they are going to burn money in leagues like the Spanish one.

 

[Diabovermelho]

The problem is that our CB targets are expensive:

Varane for about £60m
Koundé for at least £50m
Pau Torres release clause €50m (£43m)

The cheapest would be that Milenkovic lad, we could get him for about £30m.

If we spent £75-80m on Sancho, there's no way we would spent a lot of money on a CB.

 

[croadyman]

I see where you're coming from mate. But for me, I'm hoping we go for a younger CB, who is showing immense potential. That's something we haven't done for a long time. Lindelof and Bailly were decent young talents in Spain and Portugal, but IMO, not close to being among the best in their class.

Kounde, Fofana, Konate are the profile of players who will give us the option to play a more expansive game due to their physical and athletic capabilities. Varane can also give us the same but I feel we have enough experience with Maguire, Lindelof etc and should target a younger CB at this stage who fits the profile.

I have wanted to sign Varane ever since Fergie wanted him in the summer of 2011 so will always be my first choice, however wouldn't be gutted if we got a younger option as maybe they could have a Dias like influence on the defence

 

[non profit football]

The problem is that our CB targets are expensive:

Varane for about £60m
Koundé for at least £50m
Pau Torres release clause €50m (£43m)

It seems incredible to me that someone thinks of paying 60 million for Varane, who is a player who is at a miserable level, in the last year of his contract and who does not want to continue with Real Madrid.
It will be an act of stupidity to agree to pay such money for this player in these circumstances.
And with the other cases, the advice would be to flee the Spanish market regarding center backs.

 

[bucky]

According to reports, Atalanta will take up the option to sign him for 16m and then sell him on for 40m.

Ah thanks. Seems a good price for him.

 

[andersj]

He has been playing games at a very debatable level.

What do you mean by this? His performance or the level he has played against? I have not seen that much of Sevilla, but when I have seen them, Kounde has usually been very good.

To be the best player at this Sevilla-team at the age of 22 is very impressive. Sevilla has been great defensively for two years in a row and is close to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid (far better than the rest of the teams in the league). If we can buy the best player of a team that is probably just as good, if not better, than Man Utd, in a position where we need reinforcement, that is usually a great opportunity. If that player is 22 and very likely to improve, even better.

I agree that players get easily hyped these days, but my impression is that is not the case with Kounde.

 

[DWelbz19]

Of all the centre backs we've been linked to I do think Kounde is the one who would be the best partner for Maguire, and possibly worth spending big on. Most others seem much of a muchness with Lindelof.

Yeah, question marks over his height/stature, sure, but his pace and aggression is very visible. At the very least, he’s stylistically very different to Lindelof - who as you say the likes of Torres et al. bear resemblance to.

 

[Lash]

I don't think Fofana has been all that, especially in a 2 man pairing.

And between Kounde and Varane, I'd prefer the latter tbh

Fofana is extremely overrated by people in the prem, because he regularly plays in a three and is a very aggressive defender. Not saying he's not talented, because he is, just people need to be wary he'd need an extremely composed and positionally aware partner, to be in a 2 right now IMO.

 

[Mainoldo]

Can someone explain to me what this guy does for us today? Is he Rio Ferdinand in disguise?

 

[bond19821982]

Fofana is extremely overrated by people in the prem, because he regularly plays in a three and is a very aggressive defender. Not saying he's not talented, because he is, just people need to be wary he'd need an extremely composed and positionally aware partner, to be in a 2 right now IMO.

He is only 20 and we need an aggressive competitive defender. Basically an upgraded version of Bailly. He would slot in nicely with Harry.

 

[Adnan]

 

[sillwuka]

He's fantastic on the ball and plays like a midfielder in the back line.

I personally think his height will hold him back , he will get dominated by some of the taller strikers in the Prem.

 

[Onerealunited]

His hight is also my biggest concern. Isn’t he just 1.80m? That’s very short for a PL CB standard. Do we know of any very good PL CBS being that short?

 

[Bwuk]

His hight is also my biggest concern. Isn’t he just 1.80m? That’s very short for a PL CB standard. Do we know of any very good PL CBS being that short?

Thiago Silva is 1.83m.

 

[Eckers99]

Pretty sure his lack of height has already been discussed and a few posters have said he has a great leap. Height doesn't always equate to aerial dominance anyway (plus we've got Maguire for that).

 

[Bondi77]

I recently watched a 6 minute YouTube vid on him and I must admit I was impressed but I did not see him head one ball and that is a concern. Lindelof, Bailly and Axel are not good in the air and I always think we are weak when defending set pieces and I am hoping we can rectify that for next season.

 

[Drainy]

Pretty sure his lack of height has already been discussed and a few posters have said he has a great leap. Height doesn't always equate to aerial dominance anyway (plus we've got Maguire for that).

Sure, but in the Premier League we have referees who inconsistently have an old school approach towards challenges.

If we could say that referees would call fouls then he'd be able to overcome his lack of height, but given the referees we work with he'd be targeted and potentially cost us points and we're supposedly trying to win the league.

 

[DWelbz19]

Sure, but in the Premier League we have referees who inconsistently have an old school approach towards challenges.

If we could say that referees would call fouls then he'd be able to overcome his lack of height, but given the referees we work with he'd be targeted and potentially cost us points and we're supposedly trying to win the league.

Very good point, that was raised by myself, following a few posts at the time (the initial post here is quoting Giorno who makes a good point about Sevilla, if you click the post):

This, plus @Brightonian ‘s post further up the page are good points. That West Brom goal almost definitely gets called a foul in La Liga. Much softer duels would probably get called — as the massive amount of fouls for/against seen to suggest from your post.

Even though it seems clear Kounde is very strong and athletic for his size at CB, it’s going to be a completely different game where the refs aren’t as whistle-happy in England.

That + the fact we already have Maguire and are struggling with set pieces defensively is definitely something to consider.

 

[Andersons Dietician]

Pretty sure his lack of height has already been discussed and a few posters have said he has a great leap. Height doesn't always equate to aerial dominance anyway (plus we've got Maguire for that).

I once saw Kante sandwiched between Fellaini and Zlatan and he out jumped them both from a static position so fully agree on this point.

kounde is not someone I’ve seen a lot of and what I have seen not really been that impressed but his partner, can’t remember his name but he is diabolical so I suppose it’s hard to look decent with calamity like defending next to you.

 

[Hoboman]

Can someone explain why his aerial duels won stats dropped so much this season? He had more than 74% last season and only 63% this season, with almost identical number of attempts, according to fbref.

 

[Eckers99]

Sure, but in the Premier League we have referees who inconsistently have an old school approach towards challenges.

If we could say that referees would call fouls then he'd be able to overcome his lack of height, but given the referees we work with he'd be targeted and potentially cost us points and we're supposedly trying to win the league.

This is true. He wouldn't be the first defender to struggle with physicality or refereeing in England. Full disclosure, I haven't seen enough of him to hazard a guess. I do think the next CB has to compliment Maguire, so I'd hope we're looking at agility and pace (among other things). The other reputed target, Pau Torres, doesn't seem to be blessed with either.

 

[GueRed]

Only saw him in those couple of games against Dortmund this season.

Was not impressed.

Need to see more of his matches to form a more informed opinion.

Obviously talented enough to be constantly linked to United though

 

[2 man midfield]

Ole clearly wanted to sign Ake last year so a 5’10’’ centre back obviously doesn’t bother him. I just wonder if he’s what we need when we clearly can’t defend aerially if our lives depended on it.

 

[Devil may care]

Ole clearly wanted to sign Ake last year so a 5’10’’ centre back obviously doesn’t bother him. I just wonder if he’s what we need when we clearly can’t defend aerially if our lives depended on it.

It's interesting, Kounde and Ake are both on the shorter side and then there's Pau Torres who's not super fast, what they have in common is being good at playing out from the back.

 

[2 man midfield]

It's interesting, Kounde and Ake are both on the shorter side and then there's Pau Torres who's not super fast, what they have in common is being good at playing out from the back.

Which in fairness we also struggle with, so I can understand us wanting to rectify that. I just can’t stand to see us concede from set plays every game, and not even look like trying to sort it.

 

[Schmeichel's Cartwheel]

Avoid avoid avoid.

 

[Devil may care]

Which in fairness we also struggle with, so I can understand us wanting to rectify that. I just can’t stand to see us concede from set plays every game, and not even look like trying to sort it.

Yeah, it's a balancing act getting the defence right, need mix of multiple attributes.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Good price

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

He always goes toward the ball when defending. He's not coward. My first priority for sure. If it's true he's available for 50m then go for it.

 

[Godfather]

No. Just no. Not another midget.

 

[croadyman]

No. Just no. Not another midget.

Hasn't he got a really good leap for a shorter than normal CB though

 

[sglowrider]

Hasn't he got a really good leap for a shorter than normal CB though

As long as he doesn't get muscled off the ball like our incumbent does on a regular basis. He does seem to be more aggressive with his defending; cutting off passes before he needs to body check attackers.

 

[MattofManchester]

Hasn't he got a really good leap for a shorter than normal CB though

I imagine you place a little weight on his shoulder, he's not going to be leaping anywhere.

 

[croadyman]

As long as he doesn't get muscled off the ball like our incumbent does on a regular basis. He does seem to be more aggressive with his defending; cutting off passes before he needs to body check attackers.

Yeah and we do miss that a bit in our current pool of CB's

 

[Blood Mage]

Too short and weak to be a CB in the PL for any club apart from City maybe, and even there he would get exposed in some games.