€55m Barcelona player is now set to mark one year without missing a single official match | OneFootball

Despite starting the season with several important absences due to injuries, Hansi Flick was quick to find his ideal starting eleven for this FC Barcelona team.

While the German tactician is not too averse to giving the required rest to his starters, his preferred starting eleven is all too clear to identify as several players have been playing a lot of minutes this season.

One of the players with the highest number of minutes on the pitch under the German tactician has been the French defender Jules Kounde, who continues to showcase his importance in Flick’s team as he has done with Didier Deschamps’ French national team and did with Xavi’s Barcelona team in the last season.

In fact, MARCA reports that if he plays in the match against Celta Vigo, he will complete a full year without having not appeared in an official game, both with Barcelona and his French national team.

The last time the €55m-rated French defender did not play any minutes in an official match was back on November 25th, 2023, for the game against Rayo Vallecano.

Since then, he has participated in all the possible matches for Barcelona, in La Liga, Copa del Rey, UEFA Champions League, or any other official competition. This has also been the case with France, for whom he does not even miss friendly matches.

While his presence in the La Liga and UCL games is easier to understand, he has curiously also started three Copa del Rey games, even against the likes of Unionistas and Barbastro.

This season, Flick has used Kounde in all of his games, despite having punished him by keeping him on the bench for the match against Alaves. He also did not start against Espanyol but still ended up getting minutes later in the games.

In total, Kounde has accumulated 1379 minutes in his 17 Barcelona appearances this season, 13 in La Liga and 4 in UCL. Furthermore, he also accumulated 172 minutes with France only in the November international break.