The right-back position of FC Barcelona remains a topic of hot discussions within the technical sectors of the club as they look to overcome the deficit of specialists they possess in said position as they head into the official season up ahead.
Originally, it was reported that Barcelona and Xavi Hernandez had come to the realization that reinforcements were needed in said position to ensure the highest level of competitive ability within the current squad.
However, as the negotiations for various fullback options such as Manchester City’s Joao Cancelo, Real Valladolid’s Ivan Fresneda, and RCD Mallorca’s Pablo Maffeo continue to be stalled, it appears that Xavi will need to rely on his current squad for now.
According to Spanish outlet Diario AS, the pre-season thus far for FC Barcelona has dictated some trends that must be highlighted in terms of the right-back position as Ronald Araujo was the one to commandeer said position while Frenchman Jules Kounde remained primarily within the central defensive zones.
This applies in reflection to last season, where almost for the entirety of it Jules Kounde remained the primary right-back under the leadership of Xavi Hernandez whereas Ronald Araujo dictated play as a central defender.
Moreover, AS suggests that if Kounde continues to emphasize that his specialty lies within playing as a central defender and not a fullback, the latter logic applies much more so to Araujo who lacks the technical versatility of Kounde which made the Frenchman a solid makeshift fullback.
The upcoming La Liga game against Getafe on Sunday would be key to understanding just how Xavi Hernandez plans to proceed with the right-back allocation at Barcelona, as thus far Kounde has not played as a right-back during pre-season and Araujo on the other hand has not been deployed as a central defender as often as he is accustomed to.
On the contrary, the utilization of Araujo last season when it came to the right-back position was done primarily whenever Barcelona encountered oppositions with particularly proficient left-wingers that Araujo would then counter such as Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr or Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.
This is applicable to the pre-season games as well, as Ronald Araujo was facing off against the likes of Rafael Leao (AC Milan), Vinicius Jr (Real Madrid), and Perisic (Tottenham Hotspur) in all the games that he was deployed as a right back for Barcelona.
