Man United Target Kalidou Koulibaly Would Be Worth World Record Bid

According to the Evening Standard, Manchester United could be readying themselves to make a world record bid for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.

That would mean that United would have to better the £75m that Liverpool paid out for Virgil van Dijk last January.

In all honesty, I believe Man Utd, or any other side for that matter, would be doing well if they managed to prise the central defender away from Naples.

Just look at the impact Van Dijk has had at Anfield since his big move!

United in particular could be doing with a ready made world class centre back.

The Old Trafford side are currently lying in sixth place in the Premier League. Worryingly they’ve conceded twenty-six goals and that’s the sixth biggest tally in the English top flight, thus far this season.

Koulibaly is a strong. fast and composed defender.

This season in Serie A, Kalidou has been averaging around 2 tackles per game and that goes up to 2.5 per Champion League outing. No United defender made as many tackles in UEFA’s elite competition this term.

The Senegalese centre-half also makes around 1.5 interceptions and 4.2 clearances per league game, via Whoscored. He’s also won on average 2.3 headers per Italian top flight fixture.

Another major plus is the fact Koulibaly is very decent when passing the ball from the back. His current stats show that he has an impressive passing success rate of 89.8% and no regular starter at Man Utd has bettered that record to date this year.

The twenty-seven year old would come in and instantly improve the United backline. He remains unflustered in tight situations and would prove to be a good partner, if played, beside Chris Smalling.

Current Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti gave his central defender a huge compliment (from Squawka) recently:

“Sure, he is among the best I have trained with the likes of Thiago Silva, Sergio Ramos, Nesta, Maldini, Cannavaro, Thuram, Terry, shall I carry on?!”

“At the moment he is certainly among the best in the world.”

Given that huge praise, why would I Partenopei sell their prized defender?

Well his price probably won’t get any higher, especially when you take into account Man United’s need for a top class centre back. The Italian club love getting a premium price for their talent as they’ve done in the past with Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuian.

The other issue that might persuade them to sell, is the fact that Napoli are no longer in the Champions League.

Although it should also be noted that other clubs like Chelsea and Manchester City have shown an interest in Koulibaly in the past. Will they reignite that interest in January and try and beat Man United to his signature?

Even if the Serie A side are contemplating the thought of selling a star player like Kalidou Koulibaly, they’ll definitely want top dollar for the centre back. That could see Manchester United having to splash out between £90m and £100m for the Senegal defender.

Yet if he were to drastically change Man United’s defensive fortunes and help make them successful again, then he’d be worth every penny!

One Response to “Man United Target Kalidou Koulibaly Would Be Worth World Record Bid”

  1. He is a must buy if unt are going to stop the rot

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