Chelsea – along with Arsenal, Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – are showing interest in Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
According to Il Mattino, as translated by Sport Witness, the Premier League quartet are frontrunners in the race to sign Koulibaly.
They claim that Napoli missing out on European qualification could result in sales to make up for the lack of prize money.
Napoli currently dwell in 10th with just 30 points from a possible 66 in Serie A this season, nine points behind Atalanta in the final Champions League spot.
READ CHELSEA VERDICT
Koulibaly is said to have a hefty £127million release clause in his Napoli contract, which becomes active in June.
In my opinion, it wouldn’t be worth triggering that monumental clause if you were one of the four teams aforementioned.
It’d blow the market open further and although you’d be recruiting a defender of the highest order, there is most probably far better value elsewhere.
However, I think Napoli could eventually lower their asking price for the 28-year-old if they become desperate for funds.
For me, this transfer story will only see real development once it’s known whether Napoli edge into European competition or not.
A player of Koulibaly’s calibre will probably want to play at the highest level, so a move could also depend on the interested parties’ Champions League credentials come May.
