Manchester City finds a breakthrough in Kalidou Koulibaly pursuit
One of Europes most wanted central defender targets Kalidou Koulibaly has agreed to personal terms with English side Manchester City.
Man City, one step closer to confirming another summer signing in their mini overhaul of the backline. This, all while they try to go down in the history books for pulling off one of the best transfers of the summer in Lionel Messi.
Koulibaly, 29, is reportedly ready to make the switch from Itay to England after the player agreed on personal terms with last season’s Premier League runners-up. Suffering from defeat more than usual has forced Pep Guardiola to make moves in the transfer market.
Breaking | Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly has agreed personal terms with Manchester City, according to France Football.
— Get French Football News (@GFFN) August 31, 2020
City has been linked long with a move for the Senegalese but in the interim signed Dutch defender Nathan Ake from Bournemouth. The Napoli man should waltz into the starting 11 to partner Aymeric Laporte ahead of the Ake.
However, with Laporte an injury away from being sidelined for a lengthy spell, it leaves Ake there to step in, in his place. The long injury layoff of the Frenchman during last season was the demise of their defending run. It caused them to fall behind Liverpool by 18 points thanks to nine losses, five more than their Premier League winning season.
Pep has also displayed a pure lack of trust for the other centre-back options, John Stones and Nicolas Otamendi. He has a problem trying to convince Eric Garcia to stay at the Etihad, as the player feels set on joining Barcelona in the Calatan state.
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The transfer of the defender to England should gain pace now that Napoli has already found their replacement. According to reports in Italy they have agreed to sign Sokratis Papastathopoulos from Arsenal. The London club sanctioned a deal worth €4.5m for the defender while Sokratis himself has agreed to a three-year plan, earning €2.5m-per-year.
"According to reports from Rai’s Ciro Venerato , an agreement has been reached with Arsenal for about 4.5 million euros (as it expires in 2021) and the player will receive 2.5 million euros per season for 3 years"
It is further believed that the current Naples boss, Gattuso, has a great relationship with Papastathopoulos and knows him well.
"The Greek defender, whom Gattuso knows very well and was his partner at Milan and has enormous experience between Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal, beat Shakhtar’s Mykola Matvijenko in extremis (Via: tuttonapoli.net)"
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Arsenal’s imminent arrival of Gabriel Magalhaes has forced Sokratis to search for regular first-team action elsewhere as he falls further down the pecking order. The Italian side is said to make a number of summer sales with Allan the other player already on his way to Premier League club Everton.