Jules Kounde wants to stay at Barcelona amid interest from Liverpool

Barcelona and France defender Jules Kounde has confirmed he will remain with the La Liga champions despite interest from Liverpool.

A few days ago, the Daily Mail revealed that Liverpool are keen to bring Kounde to Anfield because Jurgen Klopp wants the player.

We all know the Reds are in the market for midfielders and defenders. Given that the Frenchman is a flexible player in defense, the possible offer to sign him made sense

, the 24-year-old squashed those rumors before they even started making noise. Here’s what he had to say (h/t Bein Sports, via Mirror):

“So that it remains clear… my future? Of course, I will stay in Barcelona.

While anything can happen in football, especially during transfer windows, this statement tells us that Kounde is highly unlikely to join Anfield this summer.

If we look at Liverpool’s current centre-back options, they could use a centre-back who could fill the role that Joel Matip once played. The latter could well be sold this summer.

With Trent Alexander-Arnold moving into midfield on the ball, it is appropriate to bring in a right-back or centre-back on the right flank to help Ibrahima Konate, either sharing minutes or playing at right-back.

As Koundé could do both, not having him would be a bit disappointing. But it’s very early summer. There are other goals the club can focus on before pre-season kicks off next month.

Ideally, Klopp, Jorg Schmadtke and the backroom staff should finalize all player deals before the start of July, so that new players to the team participate in the pre-season from day one. It would help their integration and understanding of the tactical side of the game under the coach.

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Jürgen Klopp: ‘It was a pleasure to work with Ox – I love him’

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was “a pleasure to work with” during a Liverpool career hampered by injury but still winning six major trophies, explains Jürgen Klopp.

Since joining from Arsenal in the summer of 2017, Oxlade-Chamberlain made 146 appearances for the Reds, helping the club to the Premier League, Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, Emirates FA Cup, UEFA Super Cup and Carabao Cup.

His six-year spell at Merseyside has sadly included spells on the sidelines with injury, most notably when he was ruled out for around 12 months following a serious knee problem during the Champions League semi-final win against Roma in April 2018.

Indeed, it’s that moment that comes to mind when Klopp looks back on the 29-year-old’s days at Anfield.

“Ox is a super boy, definitely a super boy. Now that’s a shame with Ox as is sometimes the case with players – he’s had a great time here and in the end I’m pretty sure he’s not 100% happy and I can certainly understand that,” the manager told Liverpoolfc.com.

“But the only moment that comes to mind that kinda describes the time here but also how good it is is the situation in the semi-finals of Roma, the home game, when it’s was injured. At that point, honestly, I had no idea how to replace him – Ox was so good.

“That was it: he came here, played full back at Arsenal once in a while, winger definitely and he became a real number 8 here, the way we wanted to play – super energetic, technical.”

“I remember how early we had our first final sessions and I watched and thought, ‘He hasn’t scored so many goals in the past. If I could shoot like you, I would start at 7am and finish at 9am.'” 10am because it’s amazing!’

“Then he started scoring these wonderful goals against [Manchester] City and in other important games. It was always a real pleasure to work with him, but of course an injury or two too many caused some problems.

“I love him. I once said that if I had to choose a player to go on vacation with, my first choice would probably be Ox because I’m pretty sure he’s good enough to organize things, he knows all over the world. Together with his wife, he could probably organize tickets for any event in England, maybe in Europe, and it would be absolutely fun.

“He’s a good talker and I’m pretty sure he’ll be all over TV after his career ends – which I hope will last a long time. Otherwise, the TV made a big mistake!

When asked to name his favorite moment of Oxlade-Chamberlain’s Liverpool career, Klopp replied: “There are a lot but I only remember the goal against City at home.” Falling between two players, recovering the ball and then throwing a powerful punch, and Ederson was not even close to the ball.

“It was my greatest moment in football and there have been many more.

Ox has won everything here at Liverpool FC which is amazing so he will continue to be a legend when he comes back and things like that and I’m pretty sure he brings a lot of fantastic memories with him and we’ll keep a lot of them, they will be fantastic memories with him, 100 percent.