Jules Koundé is Hansi Flick’s firm choice for Barcelona’s right-back spot. The French defender is becoming more and more used to the position and has already given up playing centre-back, a position that the Catalans have more than covered. The competition in that area of the pitch is not too great at the moment because the club has not been able to secure Cancelo’s continuity, who played on loan for Manchester City last season.
The Portuguese has one foot in Al Hilal, who are offering the ‘Citizens’ 40 million euros for his transfer and 70 million for the player for a three-year contract. An absolute outrage and figures that Barcelona cannot reach. Cancelo was Deco’s priority.
So Deco has had to look for alternatives and has set his sights on Marc Pubill, a 21-year-old right-back from Almería and a brand new gold medallist at the Paris Olympics. Born in Terrassa, he was trained at Manresa, Espanyol, Gimnàstic de Manresa and Levante, the club with which he made the jump to professional football and which was the one that transferred him to Almería for five million euros. The Andalusian club practically closed his transfer to Atalanta for 15 million plus five in variables but at the last minute the Italian club backed out, citing problems with the player’s knee. An excuse that doesn’t hold up too well. Coincidentally, almost at the same time Atalanta closed the signing of Wesley, from Flamengo and who plays in the same position.
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FC Barcelona would hardly be able to reach the figure of 15 million euros offered by Atalanta and are currently studying alternatives that could make the operation viable. One of them would be to propose a paid loan with an option to buy at the end of the season, with the figures still to be determined. Pubill’s representative, Fali Ramadani, is the same as Federico Chiesa’s and together with Barcelona they are working on the two operations.
Pubill’s possible arrival would mean the departure of Héctor Fort, who would most likely go out on loan. The full-back from the youth team, who recently renewed his contract, would have no problems finding a team because he has offers from both the Spanish League and abroad.
