Kalidou Koulibaly’s agent Fali Ramadani has warned Napoli that Manchester City will not meet their €90m asking price for the defender.
That’s what Il Mattino report today, providing the latest update in what is becoming one of the significant transfer sagas of this summer.
City have long been linked with a move for Koulibaly as Pep Guardiola looks to overhaul his defence in this window.
They have been negotiating with Napoli for several weeks over their asking price, with Aurelio de Laurentiis looking to make at least €90m after turning down €100m last summer.
That’s a price Manchester City are yet to get anywhere near, with the latest reports this week indicating their most recent bid was around the €63-65m range.
Those same reports stated that Ramadani had told them City may go as high as €70m although it was made clear that Napoli would not be happy with that.
Il Mattino have now covered the situation today and say Ramadani has put his foot down and indicated talks could soon be broken off over the asking price.
They explain that the agent has told Napoli that Manchester City ‘do not intend’ to meet De Laurentiis €90m quote and he is ‘ready to close the negotiation here’.
That’s all the newspaper offers, adding it now remains to be seen whether the Napoli owner will lower his demands for Koulibaly.
It seems, though, that those in charge at the Etihad are growing tired after weeks of negotiations seemingly not getting them anywhere.
De Laurentiis’ asking price was always going to be a problem for any club to match, particularly in this post-COVID window where even the biggest clubs in the world are short on money.
The Italian side need to raise money after signing Victor Osimhen, and Koulibaly is key to that, so the Napoli owner will have to lower his asking price at some point.
That is something City will be acutely aware of, and this report indicates they are now turning the screw, via Ramadani, to get things moving along.
