Barcelona are reportedly offering €40m for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, but his former agent assures they had ‘already made an approach in 2016.’
According to Sky Sport Italia and La Repubblica newspaper, the Blaugrana see Senegal international Koulibaly as the key to shore up their defence for next season and prepared a €40m proposal.
His price-tag has fallen considerably from the original €120m and is now believed to be closer to €60m.
However, the news that Napoli have now qualified for the Champions League could affect the plans of President Aurelio De Laurentiis and the overall transfer strategy of the club.
Barcelona aren’t the only contenders, as Manchester United, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain are all interested in the possibility of picking up K2.
According to his former agent, Bruno Satin, this certainly would not be the first time that Barca have set their sights on Koulibaly.
“They had already made an approach for him in 2016-17, with director of sport at the time Fernandez,” Satin told Radio Kiss Kiss.
“President De Laurentiis received important offers to sell him every year, but he never wanted to do it. Koulibaly is an exceptional guy and a fantastic player with many good years still ahead of him.
“He feels Neapolitan in every way now and perhaps now with that maturity he might ask for a new experience, as before he was so kind that he didn’t want to anger anyone.”
The centre-back turns 31 in June and his current contract at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona runs to June 2023.
He joined Napoli from Belgian side KRC Genk in the summer of 2014 at a cost of €7.75m.
https://t.co/sbWxMXocs5 Koulibaly-Barcellona, pronta l’offerta da 40 milioni! Agente atteso in sede: i dettagli
— CalcioNapoli24.it (@CalcioNapoli24) May 5, 2022
He’ll be captain next year, he won’t be going anywhere
I can see ADL accepting a bid of around 55 mil for him, but he will ultimately leave the decision to KK