Premier League Everton are reportedly eyeing an ambitious deal to reunite Napoli’s Serie A centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly with Carlo Ancelotti at Goodison.
Napoli are standing firm on their valuation for Kalidou Koulibaly, according to Calciomercato, with his world-record transfer fee likely to represent a sizeable stumbling block to Everton’s hopes of signing a man Carlo Ancelotti called the best on the planet.
Just in case you’d forgotten, a 4-0 trouncing at Chelsea on Sunday afternoon offered a timely reminder that The Toffees could do with a centre-half or two during the summer transfer window.
For all of Mason Holgate’s recent improvements, he is far from the finished article while Michael Keane and Yerry Mina remain as erratic as ever – despite the staggering £60 million outlay thought brought the English and Colombian internationals to Merseyside.
Gazzetta dello Sport claimed in February that Everton were weighing up one of the most ambitious deals in the club’s history with Koulibaly, a powerhouse centre-half Ancelotti raved about during their time together at Napoli, in their sights.
But Napoli chairman Aurelio de Laurentiis is not an easy man to negotiate with. And Italy’s answer to Daniel Levy is unlikely to budge on the £130 million release clause that would make Koulibaly comfortably the most expensive defender of all time.
If money-bags Paris Saint-Germain are unwilling to pay such a fee, it doesn’t exactly seem likely that Everton would stump up such a sum.
Their current record signing, Icelandic playmaker Gylfi Sigurdsson, set The Toffees back a comparatively meagre £45 million – some £90 million less than the price-tag Napoli have slapped on Koulibaly.
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
