Real Madrid impressed with Sevilla star’s Europa League performance
Real Madrid won’t make any major signings this summer, but they are thinking of their list for 2021.
Although Real Madrid signed Eder Militao and the 22-year-old center back played at a high level in his first season with the team, Los Blancos could be looking to sign another young center back in the 2021 summer transfer window.
Dayot Upamecano would be first on the list, but he is far from the only young center back on Real’s radar. The team has also been linked to Monaco’s Benoit Badiashile and Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, who has all the tools to be a star in Madrid.
According to a report from Defensa Central’s Alejandro Moreno, Los Blancos were unsurprisingly impressed with Jules Kounde‘s performance against Inter Milan in Sevilla’s 3-2 Europa League Final triumph on Aug. 21. They believed he was “outstanding” and are even more interested in signing the young man.
The 21-year-old center back showed composure and solid defending throughout the Europa League knockout stages this season, and the match against Romelu Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez was no exception.
Aside from this brilliant, game-saving goal-line clearance, Kounde completed nearly 90 percent of his passes, won four aerial duels, and had five blocks, per WhoScored.com. Although Diego Carlos is the veteran of the two center backs, Kounde is the one who brings stability and calm to the back four, allowing Diego Carlos to be more active with making interventions. It’s a little like the partnership between Raphael Varane and Sergio Ramos in Real Madrid.
Kounde is an immensely talented player, but if Real Madrid want to sign him even in 2021, they would have to pay Sevilla a lot of money.
Sevilla and Monchi are among the best in Europe at identifying young talent, and they knew they found someone special in Kounde. They paid Bordeaux 25 million euros for Kounde when he was an unknown, and now Transfermarkt underestimates his value at 30 million euros. I could see Sevilla asking Real Madrid and other clubs for double what they initially paid for.
Next. Real Madrid could get Eduardo Camavinga at a discount price. dark
Kounde is definitely a player to watch closely in La Liga next season, because he is only going to get better from here. He has earned a place on Zinedine Zidane’s and Florentino Perez’s shortlist of transfer targets.