Kalidou Koulibaly’s agent Fali Ramadani recently travelled to Naples to inform his client of interest from several clubs, one of which is Liverpool – that’s according to Il Mattino via Sport Witness.
The story, also reported via Area Napoli, claims that the agent informed the Senegal defender of interest from Paris Saint-Germain, Liverpool and Manchester United. It’s said that Ramadani will meet with the Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis in approximately two weeks to push for the sale of his client whilst requesting a drop in the club’s asking price.
Koulibaly has made 15 appearances in Serie A this season with an average performance rating of 6.78/10 according to WhoScored.com. Although it could be argued that rating doesn’t necessarily portray the 28-year-old as one of the world’s best defenders, he has been significantly better in the UEFA Champions League where his performances have earned him a rating of 7.43/10.
Can you see Liverpool spending big this summer?
Yes
No
TIF Thoughts…
Jurgen Klopp’s side recently turned down the opportunity to trigger Timo Werner’s release clause, paving the way for him to join Chelsea due to them not being convinced of the selling club’s valuation. Therefore, unless De Laurentiis slashes his reported asking price of €100m (£89.72m) as per Corriere dello Sport via Football Italia, a deal taking the player to Merseyside feels unlikely.
Transfermarkt value Koulibaly at £50.4m – so maybe if Napoli lower their asking price to that Liverpool might consider it.
However, Jurgen Klopp already has Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren at his disposal and has been talking highly of the young Dutch defender Sepp van den Berg lately (via liverpoolfc.com).
If Lovren is to move on this summer, the Reds could be on the lookout for another central-defender but given the noises coming out of the club following the Werner saga, in our view, it doesn’t seem likely the club will be looking to spend that sort of money on anybody.