With Virgil van Dijk out injured, Liverpool are linked with numerous central defenders and once again the name of Kalidou Koulibaly is in the focus.
According to reports going on in the media, Liverpool are prepared to agree fee with Napoli to sign the Senegalese superstar in the winter transfer window.
News – Liverpool have financial means to pay £20million-a-year to sign star – Report
As per Italian journalist, Fabio Santini, the Reds are more than serious about luring the former Genk defender and they have made an offer that would meet the asking price set by the Naples based side.
Santini stated (via Area Napoli):
“The club that is more serious for the Senegalese is Liverpool. Attention: the Reds offer to the Naples a figure between 70 and 75 million euros, the sum that De Laurentiis asks”
In the winter transfer window of 2018, Liverpool splashed a huge amount of £75 million (The Guardian) to secure record capture of Van Dijk from the Saints.
So, if we end up paying around 70-75 million euros for Koulibaly then he would become the second most expensive signing in the history of the club.
The 29-year-old is the captain of Senegal and twice he has been named the Player of the Year for his country. For the San Paolo outfit, the highly rated defender has consistently done well and this season, he has been in top form under the management of Gennaro Gattuso.
In the last two Premier League seasons, we had the best defensive record and a lot of credit for that goes to the leader of the backline i.e. Van Dijk. The Dutch international brilliantly transformed things at the back and his absence is a problem for Klopp, who should find a solution in the winter.
We sold Lovren in the summer and Matip is on and off injured, therefore a proven quality center back must be signed in January to strengthen the department.
Koulibaly, who has made it into the Serie A TOTY from 2016 to 2019, would be a quality addition if somehow we can secure his signature. His current contract with Napoli will expire in less than 3 years and at the moment, he is earning a low salary of 6 million euros per season i.e. around £104,000-a-week (La Repubblica).
We shall see how the transfer saga unfolds in the coming months.
