FC Barcelona moves with certain strategic certainties as they prepare themselves for the upcoming official 2023/2024 campaign following the conclusion of the Joan Gamper game yet to be played against English outfit Tottenham Hotspur.
At the moment, Barcelona are looking at various options in the market to reinforce certain positions where Xavi Hernandez believes the Catalan club must make a leap in terms of quality to continue competing at the highest level.
One particular position where consensus is achieved within the club to find a new specialist is that of the right-back position, one that was occupied for most of last season by French central defender Jules Kounde.
As per Spanish news outlet SPORT, Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has given his word and assurance to the French defender that he would not be deployed in the same position as regularly as he was last season at the club, and would only be used there sparingly.
This assurance comes as a result of some annoyance from the player’s perspective as he does not particularly wish to continue playing as a fullback for Barcelona and instead wishes to be deployed at his specialized position in the center of the defense, as he did so in Sevilla and while playing in that position he attracted the attention of Barcelona itself.
For now, the Barcelona coach believes that it would be Ronald Araujo, a fellow central defender, who would be occupying the right-back position more so than Kounde in the upcoming season given his performances against the likes of top-level wingers such as Vinicius Jr and Rafael Leao.
Despite this current understanding of the division of responsibilities between the players, Barcelona will continue to monitor proceedings within the summer transfer market as they continue the hunt to bring in a top-level specialist right-back, with the names of both Joao Cancelo and Ivan Fresneda being heavily rumored to be top targets for La Blaugrana.
Jules Kounde himself arrived at FC Barcelona last summer following insistence from Xavi Hernandez that he had complete faith in the abilities of the 24-year-old defender and the Catalans managed to take him away from Sevilla by beating out heavy interest of other clubs such as English Premier League side Chelsea.
