Jules Koundé capture set to help Barcelona return to European football’s top table

What a transfer window this is turning into for FC Barcelona.

The capture of arguably Sevilla’s best player is a real coup for the club and we should be doffing our collective caps to all those who played a part in getting the deal over the line.

Isn’t it wonderful to hear that the world’s best players are wanting to come to the club once again.

Yes of course finances will have helped smooth the path, but that is incidental in many ways. You get what you pay for.

Not too long ago the Blaugranes were a laughing stock and making headlines for all of the wrong reasons.

Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images

I don’t think there’ll be too many laughing at Barça now do you?!

Jules Koundé is a real ‘stake in the ground’ type signing. A marker.

At just 23 years of age, there is so much more to come from a player who is already an accomplished centre-back and bona fide star.

Let’s not forget either that he can perform the full-back role with aplomb.

Could it be that, in fact, he’s been brought in to provide those lung-busting runs down the right channel that we’ve often seen?

Even if that isn’t going to be his primary function, the fact that he’s able to switch position gives Xavi some excellent options at the back.

At 5 ft 10 inches, he’s a little on the short side for a centre-back, but it isn’t often that attackers have managed to get the better of him.

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Thanks to a natural agility and a superb level of fitness, he can dominate both in the air and on the deck. You try winning a foot race with him!

Power, pace, tenacity and a ball player par excellence… if there’s one very minor chink in an otherwise gold standard armoury it’s a short fuse, but frankly if you take that away from him the competitive edge is dulled somewhat.

His desire to improve and learn in all aspects has come across loud and clear in his initial interviews and that can’t be understated either.

Far too often these days players are decried as mercenary. From what we’ve already seen of the player in La Liga and the French national team, he earns every Euro of his salary.

Frankly, this is the one signing that has me impatiently waiting for the first whistle of the new campaign.