Jules Kounde's statistics for the season were really disturbed by a knee injury, and much like the rest of the team he had some poor games before Christmas.
His performance at the back of Napoli this week was excellent, and as Mario Rios said in a piece for The sports worldhe didn't come a moment too late.
Finally Kounde has taken some form, and is becoming the rock at the back with great physical and technical attributes that Barça wanted when they signed him.
The centre-back has now played 17 games since the turn of the year, complete 90 minutes in each of them. No one else on the team can match that.
Even for a defender, it's an incredibly impressive run, and should mark a turning point for the Frenchman who has come in for plenty of criticism since joining Barcelona from Sevilla for close to 50 million euros.
Availability is the best ability, and he certainly nailed it.
