Liverpool are linked with numerous players in the summer transfer window and now a Napoli star is in the focus.
According to Il Mattino, Liverpool are interested in signing Senegalese international Koulibaly to partner him with Virgil van Dijk in the central defense.
News – Liverpool made move to sign £50million star – We take a look
The renowned Italian news outlet have reported that the Reds have not made any official offer for the player as yet but they have inquired his agent about a potential move.
Media:
The 28-year-old has mainly been linked with Manchester United this summer. Last month, Mirror Sport and Italian journalist Nicolo Schira claimed that the Old Trafford club want Koulibaly.
Moreover, earlier this month, Corriere dello Sport reported that the Red Devils are ready to make a move for the Serie A star and Napoli are demanding full payment of his 150 million euros release clause (£133million).
As far as Liverpool are concerned, this summer, Il Mattino are the first outlet, who have linked the European Champions with Koulibaly and the Italian source have claimed that it would take an offer of more than 110/120 million euros to hire his services.
Koulibaly vs Liverpool:
The African star is the only defender who has featured in the Serie A Team of the Year in the past three seasons.
In the last campaign, he featured in both the Champions League contests against the Reds. At home, Napoli were able to beat Liverpool 1-0 with Koulibaly commanding their back-line.
On the other hand, at Anfield, Mohamed Salah skipped past the defender with searing pace and scored the winning goal (1-0) to book Liverpool’s place in the KO stages of the Europe’s premier competition.
Liverpool’s defense and Klopp’s view on transfers:
Liverpool broke their transfer record to sign Virgil van Dijk from Southampton back in January 2018. The Dutch international was fantastic in the last campaign and deservedly won the PFA Player of the Year prize.
Apart from the former Celtic player, Klopp has got central defenders like Matip, Gomez and Lovren at his disposal. We recently covered a report (via Football Insider) claiming that Lovren is linked with a move away from Anfield. If the Croatian international leaves then the Reds should adequately replace him.
We had the best defensive record in the PL last season (conceded the fewest number of goals and kept the highest number of clean sheets) and managed to win the Champions League as well. Therefore, the defense does not really need major reinforcements.
Liverpool spent £75million to lure Van Dijk (The Guardian) from the Saints in the winter transfer window of 2018. Moreover, they splashed the cash to secure big money signings of Brazilian duo Alisson (goalie) and Fabinho (defensive midfielder) in the summer transfer window last year.
Last month, Klopp revealed (Liverpool Echo) that it is unlikely the Merseysiders will spend big to reinforce the team this summer. The German manager said:
“For sure there’s no need for that level (of spending). I do not want to talk exactly what we will do, but I do not think this is a team at the moment where we have to spend the big money or whatever.”
However, more recently, the former Borussia Dortmund boss has claimed (ZDF via Sky Sports):
“Liverpool is an ambitious club and if we didn’t spend the same amount of money as others, we wouldn’t be able to compete. Everybody’s splashing the cash, so we have to do the same.”
Have your say – Should the Reds move to sign Koulibaly?
