Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, who is capable of playing both centre-back and right-back, is one of most highly-rated defenders in modern football. The Spanish club have attached a 75 million pounds price tag to the player and are not willing to sell him in January, but it is highly likely that he will be making his way out this summer.
But some reports suggest that the youngster has agreed Liverpool’s contract offer, settling the personal terms aspect of a potential transfer.
Kounde has been in the radar of many premium clubs in European football, including English clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United. He has a release clause close to 90 million euros, and Liverpool are not intending to match that price. They are keen on offering 15-20 million less in January and loaning him back to the Spanish club until the end of this season.
Chelsea made a significant breakthrough last summer to sign Kounde and Real Madrid have looked at the French footballer as a potential replacement for Sergio Ramos. Los Blancos, who lost the services of Ramos and Raphael Varane in the space of weeks in the last transfer window, signed David Alaba for free and are exploring other options.
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp is adamant about getting the 23-year-old on board for his project, having already experienced a lot of chaos with injuries last season. Klopp tried out as many as 20 centre-back combinations in the Premier League last season with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip often found injured.
They signed Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig earlier in 2021 in a pre-season deal and made 12 appearances across all competitions. Konate is among a host of young French defenders right now who are touted as the next big centre-backs in Europe, and Kounde, who has been rated even higher by experts, will be a massive acquisition for the club.
Liverpool were very much in the Premier League race, but dropping points in a few important games and currently find themselves 11 points behind the league leaders Manchester City with a game in hand. They are in contention to lift their second Champions League title in 4 seasons, having won all the group games.
