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The Kalidou Koulibaly to Manchester City saga got even more complicated last week, when Aurelio De Laurentiis revealed no direct talks have been held.

City are distrustful of Napoli after what happened when they tried to sign Jorginho. Feeling they had a deal secured, the Manchester club were then shocked to find out Napoli had also agreed a deal with Chelsea.

Not wanting to deal directly with the same people again, City have been using Koulibaly’s agent Fali Ramadani as an intermediary. He’s been travelling between Italy and England, trying to build a deal.

Meanwhile, Sport report Txiki Begiristain is ‘testing other options’. Pep Guardiola wants another central defender in, and the Catalan newspaper insist he’ll get one.

It’s just a question of who.

Koulibaly is clearly first choice, yet there’s only so long City can play games with Napoli.

According to Sport, the other options are in La Liga, and are named as Atletico Madrid’s Jose Gimenez, and Sevilla’s Diego Carlos.

There’s also an insistence Guardiola wants to keep Eric Garcia for next season, regardless of his contract situation.