Manchester United have asked about Barcelona defender Jules Kounde ahead of the summer transfer window, according to Spanish outlet AS (page 10).
The Red Devils were linked with the Frenchman during last summer’s transfer window but he chose to join Barcelona from Sevilla in a deal worth €60 million.
Kounde has since made 38 appearances for the Catalan giants in all competitions but the majority of those (21) have come from the right-back position.
It is now reported that the 24-year-old has spoken with manager Xavi Hernandez. He has voiced his displeasure over playing out of position at Barcelona.
Kounde prefers to operate from the heart of the defence, but Xavi currently favours Ronald Araujo and Andreas Christensen as his central defensive pairing.
Meanwhile, the Frenchman recently insisted that he is not looking to leave Camp Nou but AS claim that the player could be sold if he does not want to play at right-back.
The Spanish publication say that Barcelona could sign a high-profile right-back by selling Kounde. United are one of the clubs that have ‘asked about’ information on him.
Kounde speculation with United could be agent-driven
United were obviously admirers of Kounde in the past. However, they have now turned their focus to landing the signature of Napoli defender Kim Min-jae.
The South Korean has refused to rule out a move from Naples and United are ready to trigger his €58m foreign release clause which will be active from July 1-15.
With this in mind, we believe the Kounde speculation is agent-driven. Aside from United, Chelsea have also been linked despite their spending spree on centre-backs.
Kounde is unhappy with his current role in the Barcelona squad. His agent is probably using United’s name to put pressure on Xavi to play the defender in his preferred role.
The player’s representative may also be looking to gauge interest from potential suitors. One thing is for sure that United would not want a troublesome player in the squad.
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