Duncan Castles has been speaking on the latest episode of The Transfer Window podcast with Ian McGarry.
He has revealed that Kalidou Koulibaly thinks that he will end up at Manchester City this summer.
Castles spoke about other things including, Liverpool wanting to get rid of Dejan Lovren and the proposed takeover of Newcastle United.
However, he spent quite a bit of time talking about Koulibaly, here is what he had to say in full about the Napoli centre-back.
“The word from people close to Koulibaly is he thinks there’s a strong chance he will end up at Manchester City.
“The noises and the effort City have made so far and obviously their greater need for a top centre-back – as we’ve talked about many times – the only centre-back option that [Pep] Guardiola trusts at present is Aymeric Laporte.
“They’ve spent this whole season short of quality at centre-back that puts them in Koulibaly’s mind as his more likely destination.”
It seems as if the Koulibaly believes out of the clubs that want him City is his most likely destination.
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TIF Thoughts…
The 29-year-old is valued at £50.4m by Transfermarkt, but it is claimed that Napoli want in the region of €80m (£72.2m) for their centre-back who has been superb in the UEFA Champions League this season earning an average rating of 7.43 for his performances.
City this season have had to deal without Laporte who has missed 37 matches, and in that time, Pep Guardiola’s side have lost eight games in all competitions.
Therefore, a move for Koulibaly could make sense, and if he does move to the Etihad, City could have a centre-back partnership of Laporte and Koulibaly.
Also, if Castles is to be believed (28:00), then the Senegalese international sees himself playing his football under Guardiola next season.
We will have to see what happens.