Better than Varane & Konate: Kounde the No.1 ranked France centre-back
Robin Bairner
- Updated: 28 Jul 2022 18:49 BST
- 3 min read
Barcelona have announced they have reached a deal to sign Jules Kounde, who is the No.1 French centre-back, eclipsing the likes of Raphael Varane of Manchester United and Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool.
Chelsea were thought to be leading the race to sign the Sevilla defender but Barcelona made a late play to hijack the move for the 23-year-old and have struck an agreement worth an initial €50 million for Kounde.
Both clubs have earmarked the player capable of excelling long into the future, but his present value is highlighted by data analytics experts SciSports, who rate Kounde as the outstanding French central defender of the moment.
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France boss Didier Deschamps has a wide array of high-quality centre-backs at his disposal and it is testimony to Kounde’s quality that he is judged to be the best, based on hundreds of in-game data points and the latest analysis techniques, which produce a SciSkill score. The higher the SciSkill score, the better the player is judged to be.
Little wonder, then, that Barcelona were willing to splash the cash to snap up the former Bordeaux man, who can also play at right-back.
France's top 10 centre-backs
France boast centre-backs at many leading clubs around Europe, with Varane, a multiple Champions League winner and a key member of Les Bleus as they lifted the World Cup at Russia 2018, coming second in the analysis, which updates on a game-by-game basis.
After Varane comes this Bayern Munich trio of Benjamin Pavard, who like Kounde can also play right-back, as well as Dayot Upamecano and Lucas Hernandez.
| Name | Club | SciSkill |
| Jules Kounde | Sevilla | 114.2 |
| Raphael Varane | Man Utd | 114.0 |
| Benjamin Pavard | Bayern | 109.4 |
| Dayot Upamecano | Bayern | 107.8 |
| Lucas Hernandez | Bayern | 106.2 |
| Kurt Zouma | West Ham | 105.4 |
| Nordi Mukiele | RB Leipzig | 104.3 |
| Wesley Fofana | Leicester | 104.2 |
| Ibrahima Konate | Liverpool | 103.4 |
| Robin Le Normand | Real Sociedad | 102.1 |
West Ham’s Kurt Zouma comes in sixth, followed by PSG transfer target Nordi Mukiele, Leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Ibrahima Konate of Liverpool, whose score is lower than expected because of a relative lack of game time last season.
Completing the top 10 is Real Sociedad star Robin Le Normand.
Incidentally, fellow Chelsea transfer target, Presnel Kimpembe of PSG ranks only 16th with a score of 94.9.
SciSports, meanwhile, also estimates the potential of players. In this analysis, Kounde again comes out on top. Fofana, Upamecano and Konate are joined in the top five in this case by Arsenal defender William Saliba, who is another player Barcelona are reportedly monitoring.
