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Manchester City have edged ahead of Liverpool in the race to sign Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
Long regarded as one of the best defenders in Serie A, Napoli have decided that they need to sign the Senegalese international this summer to raise funds, with their finances depleted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
That prompted interest from Liverpool, who wanted to pair Koulibaly with Virgil van Dyck, but there appears to be a wide gap in valuation. Jurgen Klopp’s team were prepared to offer £50 million for the 29 year old, whilst Napoli wanted closer to £90 million.
And with Liverpool turning their attention to other areas of the team that they need to strengthen, that has given City the chance to steal ahead of them, although their offer is likely to be closer to £70 million.
City have long been in the market for another quality centre back, with Aymeric Laporte the only player in that position at the Etihad in whom Pep Guardiola has total trust.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.