- Chelsea offered €80M in exchange for defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
- The Senegalese has been continually linked with a move to Chelsea.
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Chelsea’s interest in Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly was one of the worst kept secrets in European football. Throughout Antonio Conte’s tenure at the club, Koulibaly was thought to be among our list of targets, yet a Napoli player he remains.
Even with his former manager Maurizio Sarri making the move to Stamford Bridge, Koulibaly still couldn’t be convinced to follow suit. Rather, Aurelio De Laurentiis couldn’t be convinced to sell his prized asset. He’s a pain in the back-side, isn’t he?
De Laurentiis looks to have had a large sum of money put on his plate in exchange for the Senegalese, but still had no interest in selling him. And when we say large, we mean large.
France Football claim that Chelsea’s bidding went as high as €80M, which works out around the £70M mark. That’d make him the second most expensive defender of all-time behind Liverpool centre-back Virgil Van Dijk.
Napoli still didn’t budge, which we’d probably give them credit for if they didn’t deny us the opportunity to sign one of the best defenders in the world.
Barcelona are now interested in Koulibaly, as per France Football. We’re warning you now, Ernesto Valverde, don’t bother.