Somewhat out of the blue, Thursday saw a return of the Kalidou Koulibaly exit talk in the Italian newspapers after Le Parisien reported the defender had bought a flat in Paris.
Everton were thrown into the mix because of Carlo Ancelotti, while Manchester United were also mentioned, as they always are.
We were reminded, as we tend to be when the Senegal international is mentioned, that Aurelio De Laurentiis had rejected a €100m+ offer from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side last year, and Corriere dello Sport, after all the stories on Thursday, have a big article on the matter in their Friday edition.
While last year’s minimum price for Napoli was €130m, the Italian newspaper explain that price has now dropped to a far more affordable (note: sarcasm) €100m.
Such a price limits the number of clubs who can afford it, and they report Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City are ‘again in contention’, but it’s the Ligue 1 champions and the Old Trafford residents who will ‘command the operations’.
That suggests they are the most active on the matter, and if United offered €105m last summer, they now know that a similar offer would be accepted this time around.
Something to think about, but at 28 and coming off a season where he has struggled both with injuries and average performances, it will be interesting to see who actually comes forward for Koulibaly in the summer at that price.
