Manchester United and Chelsea are looking to revive their interest in FC Barcelona’s defender Jules Kounde, reported Spanish news outlet SPORT on Wednesday.
Barcelona’s financial problems are no secret to anyone and the Catalan giants may be forced to sell one or two of their key players in the upcoming summer transfer window.
Recently, names like Ronald Araujo and Frenkie de Jong have been circulating in rumours that the Blaugrana may offload the two players for a huge chunk of money and Kounde became the latest to join the list.
Barcelona’s head coach Xavi Hernandez will step down at the end of the season and even though the club made way to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time since 2020 by beating Napoli 3-1 on Tuesday, they are not having a great time in domestic competition and could have a trophyless season.
Apart from their on-field struggles, Barcelona need to maintain their financial books and with the ongoing construction of Spotify Camp Nou, the only option they have is to let go of one or two big names.
As per SPORT, Kounde, Andreas Christensen, Inigo Martinez, Eric Garcia, Clement Lenglet and Chadi Riad may be the ones to see the exit door in attempts to balance the books.
While Christensen is determined to stay at the club, a big-money offer wouldn’t stop Barcelona from selling him as the club is in dire need of money. On the other hand, Garcia, who is currently on loan to Girona, will join them on a permanent transfer.
Both Man United and Chelsea were heavily interested in Kounde while he was still at Sevilla, but the Frenchman ultimately decided to join Barcelona.
It will be interesting to see how Barcelona manage to meet its financial targets as the only viable option right now is to sell some of its players for a massive amount of money.