Everton have seen ‘requests’ for Napoli duo Victor Osimhen, and Kalidou Koulibaly ‘nipped in the bud’ by the Italian side this month.
That’s according to Il Mattino, who say the Blues efforts to plan moves for the pair ahead of the summer transfer window have been shot down by Napoli.
The newspaper explains that Napoli have had a quiet January transfer window, with the arrival of Axel Tuanzebe their only bit of business.
That was something of a surprise move in the first place, with Aurelio De Laurentiis, Luciano Spalletti and Cristiano Giuntoli all agreeing earlier this month that they didn’t need to be busy in the window.
Spalletti is extremely happy with the squad he has and the performances he is getting out of them, so there will not be any surprises.
Their focus is now on the summer instead, and Giuntoli has already ‘started to weave the first cloths’ in that regard.
That’s because there could be several major exits, and there have already been ‘requests’ from Everton from Osimhen and Koulibaly.
Both of these were ‘nipped in the bud’ by Giuntoli, which we’re reading to mean he gave the Toffees a swift ‘thank you, but no thank you’ and moved on. That could change in the summer, of course.
Everton signing either player seems unlikely given the finances that would be needed to get them, but they’re planning something of a rebuild themselves.
Perhaps if they were to lose the likes of Yerry Mina, who is entering the final year of his deal at Goodison Park, and Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is reportedly ready to move on and has interest from Arsenal, then they’d have the finances for a double deal for Osimhen and Koulibaly.
They’d have to reach an agreement with Napoli, of course, and it seems, for the time being, they’re not interested in talking.
