Napoli manager Carlo Ancelotti has ruled out chances of Kalidou Koulibaly Leaving Napoli this summer with Manchester United seriously chasing a deal for the 27-year-old.
Koulibaly was heavily linked with United last summer when Jose Mourinho was desperate to bring a top-class central defender to Old Trafford, but the Senegalese star remained in Naples and is having another magnificent season.
The Serie A outfit are now demanding at least £150million for Koulibaly meaning the Red Devils would have to double the world-record fee Liverpool paid for Virgil van Dijk in January 2018. United, though, have not been put off by Koulibaly’s enormous price tag. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been handed a massive £250m to spend on new recruits this summer with the club determined to become genuine title contenders once again.
However, Ancelotti is adamant that Koulibaly is going nowhere and insists the Senegal international is central to his project at Napoli. ‘I have a team that is already well structured and with margins for growth, even if young,’ he said. ‘In pivotal roles we are in place, the backbone is robust: two valuable goalkeepers, a reliable defence with a phenomenon like Koulibaly, the well-structured midfield with Allan, [Piotr] Zielinski and Fabian [Ruiz].
‘They are destined to grow, with targeted investments made in harmony with the club. ‘The big names will all remain, Napoli is not forced to sell and make capital gains. Also, Koulibaly? Absolutely, from here he does not move.’
Solskjaer, who was officially appointed United’s full-time manager on Thursday, hopes the club bring in his targets before pre-season begins. ‘We’ve given ourselves a great chance to be in the top four, and even three, so that’s got to be the short-term target in the league,’ the Norwegian said. ‘The Premier League is vital for us and of course we’ve been discussing how to move the club forward but that doesn’t mean we’ve been saying X amount of money or X amount of players.
‘We have sat down and discussed but now it’s easier to be clear about what we need to do, because we will do some business this summer. ‘There’s been so many players written about that we’ve been interested in and so many players and agents have been in touch with our admin who want to come here and I’m sure when we decide what we have to do and hopefully we’ll get them by pre-season.’