Holder on the right side of the defense during the round of 16, Jules Koundé has become the number 1 side of the Blues.
Benched against Tunisia due to a threat of a yellow card, Jules Koundé regained his starting place on the right side of the defense of the French team during the round of 16 of the Cup of the world this Sunday, December 4. Basic central defender, the FC Barcelona player has now become the indisputable holder of the French team on the right side position.
The former Sevilla FC player takes advantage in particular of the poor form of Bayern Munich player Benjamin Pavard to continue with the Blues. Without also a professional replacement as a certain Jonathan Clauss could have been, Jules Koundé is the ultimate solution for Didier Deschamps, even if the Frenchman has never completely reassured on the right side.
Jules Koundé’s story with the French football team is yet to be written. Called surprise during Euro 2021 by Didier Deschamps, the defender now seems very well established in the hierarchy of the Blues. However, after celebrating his first start against Portugal (2-2, June 23, 2021), Jules Koundé did not offer good guarantees to the staff of the France team after receiving a red card for his third selection. , against Bosnia.
For the record, as L’Equipe explains, the defender could have decided to return to his club Sevilla FC, but he decided to stay with the whole group, which has more to the staff of the team. of France which has made it an essential element. “My dreams are to win everything, the World Cup, the Euros… everything that’s possible. I really want to leave a mark and above all it’s really the competitive side that has driven me since I was little. From the moment I entered this world, this professional world, I said to myself that it was to become the best and I try to give myself the means to get there while keeping this pleasure of game because I think that’s what takes you far and allows you to have a career that lasts over time, at a very high level” explained the defender in an interview for ESN Talks.
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Passionate about football, Jules Koundé joined the regional U17 team of the Girondins de Bordeaux club. The footballer in training seduced by his self-sacrifice and his stubbornness. It must be said that his height (1.78 m) does not make him a favorite candidate by the central defense, a position generally attributed to more slender templates than his… But by dint of work, the player climbs the ladder a at one until winning the 2017 French Championship with the under-19 team as team captain.
In 2017, his career took on a new dimension with the signing of his first professional contract with the Girondins de Bordeaux first team. The ultimate reward for all his efforts! His first match as a professional footballer, Jules Koundé played in the Coupe de France as a starter against US Granville. In Ligue 1, he will have to wait until February 10, 2018 to score his first goal in a match against the Amiens club.
Talented and determined, the young French defender was quick to interest foreign clubs. Eager to explore new horizons, Jules Koundé accepts Sevilla FC’s proposal in 2019 and signs a contract committing him for a period of five years. The amount of his transfer is then estimated at 25 million euros, a significant sum which ranks him among the most expensive players ever bought by the Spanish club. Suffice to say that the leaders of Sevilla FC believe a lot in this new recruit. But despite the pressure on his shoulders, the young central defender acclimatized perfectly to the Andalusian climate and wasted no time in becoming indispensable as a central hinge, alongside Diego Carlos. From the first season in the Spanish Liga, the French player seduced the supporters and the leaders of the club. The central defender even established himself as a safe bet in the 2020 Europa League final that Sevilla FC won.
In 2022, Jules Koundé’s career took a completely different turn when FC Barcelona signed him. Despite some problems integrating him into the final list of qualified players, the former Sevilla defender is quickly becoming an essential element of Xavi’s system in the central defense of FC Barcelona.
Alongside his club career, Jules Koundé is one of the players closely followed by the staff of the French national team and, even more so, by coach Didier Deschamps. When he is still in Bordeaux, the defender is called upon to defend the colors of the France under-20 team. The player honors his first selection among the “mini-Blues” by playing a match against the United States in March 2018. Three years later, Didier Deschamps selects him in A to participate in Euro 2020 in his list of 26 players before participating in the 2022 World Cup
Born November 12, 1998 in Paris, Jules Koundé moved to Gironde with his mother at the age of 2. He grew up in the small town of Landiras located a few kilometers from Bordeaux. If his father is of Beninese origin and the player still has family in Benin, Jules Koundé only has French nationality. Raised solely by his mother, the defender is full of praise for the one who encouraged him throughout his training, even if she did not like football! Jules Koundé is also the nephew of Charles Tokplé, a former Togolese international player who played with Etoile Filante du Togo but also in France in small clubs in the Paris suburbs (Sarcelle, Garges, Cergy-Pontoise…).