It doesn’t matter how frustrated or annoyed Kalidou Koulibaly is regarding his situation at Napoli, if Aurelio De Laurentiis doesn’t get the money he wants, the defender isn’t going anywhere.
On Tuesday, Il Mattino reported the defender was starting to kick up a bit of a fuss at his club’s handling of his exit, wanting to start a new adventure but feeling his asking price was too high.
Manchester City, the only club seemingly prepared to make offers for him, have yet to match it, which has given an opportunity for other interested sides, such as Manchester United, to wiggle their way in.
That’s what the same newspaper are reporting on Wednesday, explaining that Fali Ramadani, the defender’s agent, has let Napoli know ‘there is no longer only Manchester City but there is also Manchester United’.
This shouldn’t be a surprise, especially since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side have long been admirers of the centre-back, but appeared to put it on the back burner while sorting out more pressing matters at Old Trafford.
They seem to have returned, at least according to the agent, but ‘no one has yet reached the right figure’, with €80m being the asking price these days.
Il Mattino continue by pointing out ‘the impression is that City has moved ahead for the defender’, with Koulibaly having ‘already given his word to Guardiola’s side’.
That being said ‘he will start evaluating other offers if Manchester City’s hesitation should continue’.
This is somewhat corroborated by Corriere dello Sport, who also believe De Laurentiis is holding out for €80m, with Guardiola and co. only offering €60m + easily accessible bonuses so far.
However, their stance about the future differs, with them claiming Manchester City now have ‘no intention of going further’ meaning their last offer was ‘the last proposal both in terms of time and quantity’.
Lionel Messi is now the priority at the Etihad, which once again allows other clubs to come forward with a new open pathway to the centre-back.
Basically, ‘if Napoli do not lower their demands, Manchester City will go no further’.
As for Manchester United in all this, they are described as ‘still interested’, and more importantly ‘able to satisfy the requests of Napoli’, just like Paris Saint-Germain.
If you ask us, it seems awfully convenient for the Red Devils to be brought back into the mix when things are stalling with Manchester City, and we would recommend readers of this article not to get too excited just yet.
This wouldn’t be the first time United have been used to get a slow deal over the line, and while they may hold a particular interest in Koulibaly, it seems unlikely they would go as far as spending €80m on him this summer.
Then again, it also wouldn’t be the first time they threw that much money at a centre-back, either.
