Official: Barcelona Signs Yoan Makoundou to Two-Year Deal

This time it's done. Barcelona completed the signing of Yoan Makoundou on a two-year contract, ending a pursuit that had failed twice: in summer 2025, when the center left Monaco for Turkey, and in the final stretch of last season, when the Chinese market beat them to it. We reported Tuesday that the club had put him back on their agenda; four days later, he's blaugrana.

The tenth piece of a new roster

The addition of the 26-year-old French center at 6'9" is Barcelona's tenth signing of the summer, following Nkamhoua, Robinson, Nebo, Gibson, Ubal, Umude, Balcerowski, Martin, and Evbuomwan, and completes the deepest roster reconstruction the project has seen in years. His role is already defined: the athletic power forward-center who completes the interior rotation alongside Nebo, Nkamhoua, Balcerowski, and Shengelia, bringing energy and mobility to the position.

A final year of drama

His 2025-26 season sums up Monaco's chaos. He played just five EuroLeague games, averaging 6.2 points in seven and a half minutes, and in March the club's financial situation forced him to pack his bags for the Chinese Fujian Sturgeons, where he regained prominence: 15.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 19 games. In May he returned to the Principality in time to contribute to the French league title, posting 10.1 points and 1.1 blocks in 20 domestic games.

Before that, he built his reputation through two consecutive EuroCup loans: 11 points and 4.6 rebounds with Budućnost in 2023-24, and 11.2 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks with Türk Telekom, which reached the quarterfinals the following season. Developed in Cholet's academy, where he debuted in 2019 and played 76 games, he was also named Basketball Champions League Young Player of the Year in 2021.

With his arrival, Aleksandar Sekulic's roster is practically complete five weeks before the season opener.