Manchester City have been trying to sign Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli for much of the transfer window. It’s been a hard fight, with the Serie A club’s president wanting a huge fee and being unrealistic regarding his prospects of getting it.
There had been progress expected over the weekend, and that hasn’t happened, so it appears Pep Guardiola’s side could be moving towards other targets.
AS now report the Premier League club have offered €89m for Jose Gimenez, which is more than they reportedly wanted to pay for Koulibaly.
The Spanish newspaper say a ‘formal offer’ has been made and there would be another €5m in potential bonus payments, meaning the total fee for Atletico Madrid could be as high as €94m.
This information is coming from Atletico sources, and AS say they’ve had no response when asking Manchester City to confirm or dismiss it.
Atletico don’t want to sell the defender and would usually refer to his €120m release clause, however, given the current financial climate, AS believe the club’s president Miguel Ángel Gil Marín will surely think about it.
