On Monday, Barcelona confirmed that Jules Kounde had suffered a MCL sprain during Sunday’s draw with Granada. As a result, the French international defender is set to miss the next five weeks, ruled him out of several important matches, none more so than El Clasico.
Kounde has been one of Barcelona’s best performers so far this season, so his absence will be very much felt by Xavi Hernandez. However, he is fortunate in the sense that he has sufficient cover in central defence.
Andreas Christensen, Ronald Araujo and Inigo Martinez are the senior options that Xavi has at his disposal, while Sport say that one of Mikayil Faye or Pau Cubarsi will be called up to the first team as cover following Kounde’s injury.
Both players are highly-rated with the club. They have different profiles – Faye is more powerful and Cubarsi more technical – so Xavi must decide which he prefers to have in his squad for the next few weeks.
It may also be that Xavi decides against calling up either. He has limited his call-ups of youth team players in recent weeks so as not to stunt their development, but this may be an exception as four centre-backs is a necessary option, especially given Barcelona’s tough schedule.
