Barcelona Locks Down Star Player as Manchester City's Transfer Dreams Crumble

Barcelona have successfully negotiated a fresh contract agreement with multi-position defender Jules Koundé, according to recent reports.

Koundé has just completed another outstanding campaign playing in his non-preferred right-back role, featuring in 50 out of 53 total matches across all tournaments while contributing four goals and eight assists along the way.

With only two years remaining on his current deal, Koundé has attracted attention from various clubs worldwide, including Manchester City who reportedly made an unofficial inquiry about the French international earlier this week.

Those discussions led nowhere, though, and it has now been confirmed that Koundé has rejected the opportunity to depart in order to commit to a new deal.

L'Équipe initially reported that Koundé has agreed to fresh five-year terms that will keep him at the La Liga titleholders until 2030, while also providing the 26-year-old with an improved salary package.

Much of the transfer talk concerning Koundé centered around the well-known fact that he would rather feature at center-back, instead of the right-back slot where he has played most of his three seasons in Catalonia thus far.

Nevertheless, Koundé has never shown interest in moving to another team that could satisfy his desire to return to a central defensive position, though he hasn't given up hope of eventually becoming a regular center-back for Barcelona.

His desire might be fulfilled if the Catalan club can successfully sign a new right-back this summer. Inter's Denzel Dumfries is believed to be on Barcelona's radar, though a deal remains far from finalized.