Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool could battle it out for the services of Barcelona defender Jules Kounde this summer, according to Sport.

The Catalan publication claim that Barca will “listen to proposals” for both the France international and teammate Raphinha as they look to raise funds for incoming transfers.

Kounde only moved to the Camp Nou from Sevilla for €55m (£47m) at the start of last season, but he has been regularly played out of position at right-back by manager Xavi.

With Ronald Araujo, Andreas Christensen and even Inigo Martinez favoured ahead of Kounde in the centre of defence, the decision has been made by the reigning La Liga champions to sell the 25-year-old if a good enough bid is received.

United are in the market for a centre-half

The Red Devils are known to be interested in strengthening the middle of defence and Sport report that Kounde is “on their radar”

Whether the Frenchman is top of their list of options, though, it is up for debate. Erik ten Hag’s side have also been linked with a number of other centre-backs, including Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite, Nice’s Jean-Clair Todibo, Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Benfica’s Antonio Silva.

Considering Barcelona’s keenness to offload Kounde, it may be the case that they will sanction his sale for a pretty reasonable price. Recruiting him on the cheap would then allow United to devote funds to reinforcing other areas of the pitch.

INEOS want to overhaul the first-team squad

It is believed that the club’s new minority shareholders have big plans to transform the squad over the summer but any final decisions on transfer targets will likely wait until Dan Ashworth is appointed sporting director.

Kounde appears to be on the list of targets being considered but, for now, any move to sign the player is quite some way off.