That’s it. We’ve officially entered silly season. It’s now a fact.
Like us, you’re probably sick of reading about Kalidou Koulibaly, Maurizio Sarri and Chelsea, but the problem is the Italian press *really* aren’t bored of writing about it.
On Friday alone, we’ve covered Manchester United allegedly joining the Blues in the race to sign the Senegalese defender and a report from Il Mattino that Roman Abramovich is reluctant to spend the €8m to trigger the Napoli manager’s release clause.
We thought that would be it, but no because Il Messaggero have their own report on it all and it’s a bit confusing.
According to the Rome based newspaper, which should already cast some doubt over the whole thing, Chelsea are, in fact, prepared to pay Sarri’s release clause, and they have a scheme that would hopefully help them make it worthwhile.
The plan, and it’s a good’un, is to offer Napoli a package bid of €60m for both Kalidou Koulibaly and Maurizio Sarri.
Now, if we take into account the €8m you’d have to pay to officially start talks with the manager, that means the centre-back is only valued at €52m; about €6m less than what the Serie A side are said to have rejected last summer for the defender.
The most recent reports, taking into account Koulibaly doesn’t have a release clause, believe Napoli will be asking for around €80m in the summer, which, following the transfer of Virgil Van Dijk to Liverpool, isn’t all that crazy.
We told you. Silly season has begun.
