Manchester City are close to the breakthrough for Kalidou Koulibaly, reportedly raising their offer for the Napoli defender to €70m plus bonuses.
According to both Sky Sport Italia and Sportitalia, the negotiations are reaching a key moment via intermediary Fali Ramadani.
The previous bid of €65m plus bonuses was rejected, while Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis is prepared to drop slightly below the €80m asking price.
Manchester City are close to the breakthrough for Kalidou Koulibaly, reportedly raising their offer for the Napoli defender to €70m plus bonuses.
According to both Sky Sport Italia and Sportitalia, the negotiations are reaching a key moment via intermediary Fali Ramadani.
The previous bid of €65m plus bonuses was rejected, while Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis is prepared to drop slightly below the €80m asking price.
It’s believed they can reach a deal with the latest proposal of €68-70m in cash plus another €5-7m in performance-related bonuses.
City can now focus entirely on Koulibaly after Lionel Messi confirmed he is staying at Barcelona for one more year.
De Laurentiis made it clear this week that the Senegal defender was “on his way out, transfer market permitting” and confessed to “regret” that he turned down over €100m for Koulibaly last year.
He has already named the likely replacement as Arsenal centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos.