Before Roberto De Zerbi's Tottenham maintained their unbeaten start to preseason, a rather curious transfer rumour emerged on our timelines.
The club should be done with revitalising its defence, and only in the event of a couple of departures will we re-enter the midfield market, having spent a combined £185m on Sandro Tonali and Mateus Fernandes.
Forwards are the priority, with Manchester City's Savinho the top target out wide and Eli Junior Kroupi the absolute dream striker addition.
However, we weren't greeted to a positive Savinho update on Wednesday morning, nor a stunning Kroupi bomba. Instead, links emerged regarding our interest in Barcelona right-back Jules Koundé.
Fabrizio Romano shuts down nonsense Jules Koundé rumours
Several news aggregators have credited Mundo Deportivo's Gabriel Sans with saying that Spurs are preparing a €65m bid for Kounde. However, the initial report came from Football365, which credited Spanish sources.
That's all there is to it, really. We're supposedly interested and willing to bid that much, so Barcelona, who'd be making a profit, would have to decide whether to sanction his sale. Koundé himself would prefer to remain in Catalonia, having featured heavily for France at the World Cup.
I don't think we need to waste any energy over this rumour. Fabrizio Romano has shunned the reports, writing: "No interest, no negotiations."
For Spurs, splashing so much on a right-back when we've just seen Pedro Porro perform as well as he did for the World Cup winners makes little sense. Koundé is versatile and signed for Barcelona as a centre-back, but the Lilywhites have taken steps to ensure Cristian Romero's expected departure is mitigated.
And even if Djed Spence is sold, which is a possibility, De Zerbi has Swiss Army knife Archie Gray to utilize as cover. The Italian's demands from the right-back in possession should suit Gray, who's captained the side at the start of preseason and clearly has an admirer in De Zerbi.
Barcelona, meanwhile, are short enough in defense. Selling Koundé would only leave them with more work to do when their sole focus should be on signing a premier centre-forward.
There have even been reports—again, probably nonsense—suggesting that Barça could make a move for Pedro Porro, who we apparently value at €75m. They've conjured that number from thin air, I'm sure.
Porro won't be going anywhere, and he's expected to be back in north London after recovering from his World Cup hangover before our Premier League season gets underway at Brentford on August 22.
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