Kalidou Koulibaly could end up staying at Napoli as negotiations with Manchester City continue to stumble along.
City have been chasing the Senegalese defender for months, with Pep Guardiola determined to add another centre back to his squad.
Their discussions with Napoli over the defender have not been successful, though, with Manchester City so far refusing to match Aurelio de Laurentiis’ huge asking price for the defender.
The last we heard was that his agent Fali Ramadani, who has been working as an intermediary between both club, was trying to convince Guardiola and co to up their bid as there was a €5m gap between them.
Whether he could do so remains to be seen, but now both Il Mattino and Corriere Dello Sport suggest that may not happen.
Il Mattino explain that City’s refusal to deal with Napoli directly is slowing things down, but ‘continuous contacts’ between Ramadani and De Laurentiis mean there’s ‘positive feelings’ about the transfer.
They are yet to match the Italians’ asking price though, and so Napoli could ‘postpone the farewell’ until next season.
It’s claimed that Napoli are ‘reconsidering the idea’ of keeping Koulibaly and then selling him should the right offer come in in January. They have, though, rejected a proposal from Ramadani to improve his deal.
Corriere Dello Sport back this up, stating De Laurentiis ‘does not sell out’ when it comes to the defender.
Manchester City, so far, have done things via the ‘side routes’, refusing to deal with Napoli directly after the Jorginho affair in 2018.
They are refusing to meet Napoli’s asking price of €75m and have not even got near to it, even when they’ve proposed deals including bonuses.
In fact, they’ve turned their attention elsewhere and so the idea of Koulibaly potentially staying has started to take root in Italy.
Of course, this could all be another negotiating tactic from Napoli, who have stuck firm with their asking price and may be using the age-old ‘we don’t even need to sell’ tactic to make Manchester City pay up.
Whether City will remains to be seen, but it’s clear at this point that Koulibaly’s move to the Etihad, which at one point looked a given, is starting to slide away.
