Manchester City are ‘ready to match’ SSC Napoli’s €75million valuation of Kalidou Koulibaly to make the defender Pep Guardiola’s latest signing, according to Gianluca Di Marzio.
Guardiola has been on the hunt for defensive reinforcements this summer having failed to strengthen the position after Vincent Kompany’s departure a year ago, leaving the Sky Blues boss to field 35-year-old Fernandinho in the heart of our backline on 37 occasions last term.
AFC Bournemouth’s Nathan Ake has already arrived at the Etihad Stadium after we agreed to pay £40m for the Dutchman, who may now be joined by Koulibaly after a breakthrough in what has become a saga.
Koulibaly has long been touted as one of our defensive targets but there has always been a reluctance to match Napoli’s demands for the 29-year-old, although progress finally appears on the cards with Di Marzio stating that we are prepared to lodge a substantial offer.
That offer is expected to be in the region of €75m (£66.8m) and could be enough to edge out rival interest from Manchester United, after Koulibaly’s agent Fali Ramadani reportedly informed Napoli that the Red Devils have formally declared their interest.
Koulibaly started 24 of his 25 Serie A appearances in 2019/20 amid what was an injury-disrupted season, with a biceps femoris muscle issue and thigh problems sidelining him for 11 games across all competitions.
Is Koulibaly worth spending €70m on after landing Ake for £40m?
Yes
No
If Di Marzio’s claims are correct and we are indeed ‘ready to match’ Napoli’s asking price of at least €75m for Koulibaly, it suggests the club’s hierarchy are willing to put the past behind us and push on with improving Guardiola’s options.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis had recently reopened past wounds by stating that we were refusing to negotiate Koulibaly’s future with him over a grudge due to Jorginho’s move to Chelsea in 2018 when it was expected the Italian would be joining us at the Etihad.
“How can we have a normal and calm negotiation with Manchester City to sell Koulibaly? They won’t talk directly with us because of the Jorginho deal two years ago,” He told Canale 21 via quotes by Goal.
De Laurentiis went on to confirm that he expects Koulibaly to leave the San Paolo this summer but reaffirmed his position that the Senegalese star would only depart if an offer of €90m (£80.1m) is submitted – going against Di Marzio’s reports.
“Koulibaly and [Arkadiusz] Milik are both on their way out, transfer market permitting,” the Napoli supremo added. “But the €90m is not on the table and so it takes two to make a deal.”
Hopefully Di Marzio’s claims that we are ready to negotiate with Napoli are true as it would be a woeful mistake by the club to allow a past grudge to stand in our way of improving the squad.