PSG Targets Kounde as Key Addition for Enrique
Paris Saint-Germain are back at Barcelona’s door, and this time the target sits at the heart of their defence.
Luis Enrique has made Jules Kounde a specific request for the summer window, according to reports from Spain, with the 27-year-old France international now a priority for the French champions. PSG are already in open talks with Barça over a deal for forward Ferran Torres, and they intend to use that channel to launch a serious move for Kounde and bring him home.
This is not a background operation. RMC Sport report that PSG president Nasser Al-Khelaifi is personally driving the pursuit of the versatile defender, determined to place him under Enrique’s command as part of the club’s next evolution.
A clear role in Paris
At Barcelona, Kounde has often been shunted to right-back. In Paris, the plan is very different.
Enrique and his staff see him as a central pillar of their back line, literally and tactically. The idea is simple: restore him to his natural role as a central defender, the position in which he made his name before arriving at Camp Nou, and build a stable defensive core around him with guaranteed, fixed minutes.
PSG believe that promise of clarity and continuity, coupled with a return to France, can tilt the decision in their favour. They have seen this movie before with Barcelona. The Ligue 1 side have already pulled Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi out of Catalonia in recent years; now they want to repeat the trick with a cornerstone defender.
Barcelona’s stance softens
Twelve months ago, Kounde was close to untouchable. That has changed.
After an irregular season under new manager Hansi Flick, the Frenchman no longer enjoys protected status within the first-team squad. The competition is tightening around him. Eric Garcia is back in the frame, while the incorporation of Joao Cancelo threatens to squeeze Kounde’s minutes at right-back even further next season.
Inside the club, there is a dose of realism. President Joan Laporta and sporting director Deco know the €70 million (£60m) offers they turned down last year are not coming back. The market has shifted, Kounde’s season has left questions, and Barcelona’s financial needs remain acute.
A strong, but not spectacular, proposal could now be enough. Any substantial fee would ease the wage bill and hand the board some room to manoeuvre.
Joint operation: Kounde and Torres
This is shaping up as a package raid rather than a single swoop.
The Catalan hierarchy are understood to be open to authorising the departures of both Kounde and Torres before the window closes. For Barça, it is a chance to trim salary commitments and recalibrate the squad. For PSG, it is an opportunity to secure a defender tailored to Enrique’s system and an attacker who already sits on their shortlist.
The next key step is already pencilled in. Representatives from PSG are scheduled for a formal meeting with Barcelona’s sporting direction in the second week of August. On the table will be a concrete, initial joint offer for Kounde and Torres, with the intention of striking before the new Ligue 1 campaign kicks off.
If Paris get their way, another Barcelona pillar will be prised away, and Kounde’s career will be reset not in Spain, but at the heart of a French project built around him.
