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Jules Kounde Registered And Eligible To Make Barcelona Debut After More Cost-Cutting

Twenty-eight days after his transfer from Sevilla was announced Jules Kounde has finally been registered by Barcelona to make his debut against Real Valladolid.

Robert Summerscales

Jules Kounde Registered And Eligible To Make Barcelona Debut After More Cost-Cutting
Jules Kounde Registered And Eligible To Make Barcelona Debut After More Cost-Cutting /

Twenty-eight days after his transfer from Sevilla was announced Jules Kounde has finally been registered by Barcelona.

Barcelona paid Sevilla around €50 million for the 23-year-old on July 29.

That came after more than €100m had been splashed on Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski earlier this summer.

Barca were spending money like a club with no financial concerns, despite being more than €1 billion in debt.

La Liga's financial rules dictated that Barca could not immediately register their new players without first freeing up new funding.

On August 12, the club sold 24% of Barca Studios to Orpheus Media for €100m.

This brought in sufficient funds to allow Barca to legally register Raphinha, Lewandowski, Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen with La Liga.

But in order to register Kounde as well, Barca's wage bill had to be cut.

According to The Athletic, Barca have since trimmed their expenditure sufficiently to get Kounde signed up in time for Sunday's game against Real Valladolid.

A saving has been made by loaning Samuel Umtiti out to Lecce, while it is claimed by The Athletic that Barca have cut further costs by reducing some add-ons from current players' contracts.

Kounde has played in two friendly matches for Barca - against Pumas and Manchester City.

He should therefore be fit enough to make his first official appearance for the club on Sunday.

Jules Kounde pictured wearing the no.23 during a charity game for Barcelona against Manchester City in August 2022
Jules Kounde pictured wearing the no.23 during a charity game for Barcelona against Manchester City :: IMAGO/AFLOSPORT
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Robert Summerscales
ROBERT SUMMERSCALES

Robert Summerscales launched FanNation Futbol in February 2022. Rob is a British journalist who previously spent two years on the sports desk at the Daily Mail in London, having earlier served as editor of CaughtOffside.com. He has been to the last two FIFA Men's World Cups, in Russia and Qatar, and is looking forward to completing his hat-trick in North America in 2026.

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