Norwich City bid around £13.5m for Kalidou Koulibaly back in 2015 but, with Chelsea and Barcelona interested, he’s now thought to be worth £40m more.
It seems a long time ago that Kalidou Koulibaly was struggling for form at Napoli. The defender looked more bambi-on-ice than fearsome goal-guarder when arriving from Belgian side Genk in 2014.
And, with manager Maurizio Sarri clearly unconvinced when he took over from Rafael Benitez in 2015, Koulibaly’s future at Napoli was very much uncertain. Flash forward to the present day, however, and the 26-year-old is one of the most highly-rated centre-backs in world football.
Mundo Deportivo is now reporting that La Liga giants Barcelona are hoping to rival Premier League champions Chelsea for the signature of a defender valued at around £53 million (Calciomercato).
£40m more
It’s fair to say Koulibaly has come a long way since Sky Sports reported that he was being tipped to swap the Stadio San Paolo for Norwich City’s Carrow Road back in 2015.
These days, Koulibaly has helped Napoli to open up a five point gap over Serie A champions Juventus at the top of the table in Italy. The Partenopei have won all eight of their league games so far this season.
Norwich, meanwhile, are eighth in England’s second tier.
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