Ambitious, natural and brave, Jules Koundé knows what he has come to bring to Barcelona. He has to adapt to Xavi's parameters, but fundamentally he has to continue being the one who amazed at Sevilla. “The coach asks me to lead, to give voices, to go on the attack and divide to generate superiority when I'm in central. But above all he tells me to keep my essence, ”said the Blaugrana defender on Tuesday.
At the moment he has acted, due to the circumstances, more as a winger than as a central defender. He does not hide his preference. "Everyone knows that I'm central and I prefer to play there, but if the coach puts me on the side, then I'll try to comply," he reasoned.
He had an offer from Chelsea on the table and was close to landing at Stamford Bridge, but he waited for Barcelona. “Barça is still one of the biggest clubs in the world and it has everything I wanted”, he argued to justify signing him.
A signing that did not materialize in the field until the third day because the club could not register it before. Despite this he says that he never despaired. “I kept very calm, I was confident that the club would fix the situation, it didn't depend on me and I focused on recovering my feelings”.
Koundé affirms that he is not surprised by the quality of the squad or that of his teammates such as Araújo and Eric Garcia, he applauds Piqué's role in the dressing room and is demanding of himself. “On a collective level I aspire to all the titles, I want to win everything and on an individual level my goal for the season is to continue progressing. I am young and I have to grow. I want to consolidate myself at Barça and play the World Cup with France”.
To do so, he knows that a very important showcase in the Champions League. “We are in a very complicated group but one that makes us very excited. We play against great teams but the other teams must also take us seriously because we have a great squad”.
