Napoli have reportedly set their asking price for centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly this summer as Man Utd are again linked.
The Red Devils have been linked with the Senegal international for a long time with Jose Mourinho interested in bringing Koulibaly to Old Trafford during his time there.
He was understood to be their number one defensive target in January 2019 with reports claiming at the time that he would command a world-record fee for a defender of around €100million.
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The 29-year-old has also been linked with Liverpool with a report claiming ten days ago that the Reds ‘have not stopped’ in their pursuit of Koulibaly.
However, the signing of Ibrahima Konate from RB Leipzig over the past week has surely ended those plans and Man Utd could now have a free run at Koulibaly if they’re interested.
And Gazzetta dello Sport (via Sport Witness) are convinced of the Red Devils’ interest with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side rated as having the best chance of landing Koulibaly.
They claim the powerful defender ‘wouldn’t be displeased with an experience in the Premier League’ and that Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has set his asking price ‘at least €50m’, roughly half of what he was wanting two years ago.
Manchester City were also linked with a move for Koulibaly just under a year ago and Ian Wright urged Man Utd to hijack that deal at the time.
“We saw with the one signing in [Bruno] Fernandes that it all changed for Manchester United,” Wright told Premier League Productions.
“But for me in the defensive point of view they’re still very weak. We’re hearing City might get Koulibaly but they’ve [United] got to be going in there trying to do that, they’ve got to be trying to do that deal.
“Aaron Wan-Bissaka is a fanstastic defender but [Victor] Lindelof and [Harry] Maguire and the left side [Luke Shaw] – those three are there for the taking.
“If you’re to challenge those teams [Liverpool & Manchester City] they’ve got to be a lot stronger. It’s not strong enough for me at the moment.”
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