Why Manchester City shouldn’t go for Kalidou Koulibaly in January

According to reputed Italian journalist Fabio Santini (h/t Daily Star), Manchester City are in the race for Kalidou Koulibaly. The Cityzens pursued the center-back throughout the last transfer window but had to sign Ruben Dias as Napoli refused to budge on their price.

Profile

The 29-year-old centre-back, who plays for Serie A side Napoli, started his youth career at Sporting Reunis in 1999 and signed his first professional contract with FC Metz in 2010. Before that, he spent quite some time at their academy and progressed through the youth ranks.

After 42 appearances for FC Metz, he joined KRC Genk in 2012. Koulibaly was still an unknown quantity at that point. It was only after he moved to Napoli that his performances came to light and everyone started taking note.

The towering centre-back has made a staggering 249 appearances for the club so far, with 10 goals and 5 assists (source – Transfermarkt). During his time at Napoli, he has become one of the best centre-backs in the world.

Despite playing for France in the youth levels, Koulibaly chose to play for Senegal at senior level. He is the captain of the national team and has made 33 appearances so far, scoring once.

Should Manchester City return for Koulibaly?

City have had long standing defensive issues in the form of injuries to their key defenders such as John Stones and Aymeric Laporte. Things turned so bad that they had to play Fernandinho at centre-back last season.

They have splurged considerable amounts to tackle this issue and this season was no different. The club brought in Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias from Bournemouth and Benfica, respectively.

This begs the question whether City really need another defender or more specifically someone like Koulibaly? His contract has another three years on it which means that Napoli are in control here. They can keep refusing offers that don’t meet their £75-80million valuation. That puts City in a tight spot with zero room for negotiation. If they want him, they have to pay a premium amount.

Verdict

With two new defenders the club are well stocked in the defensive department. Aymeric Laporte and John Stones are already there at the club and it would seem rather wasteful to spend so much money to get another defender.

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That money can instead be spent on buying an attacker or some other player in a different position. Especially with Dias now a part of their squad, the defense looks well settled and City can avoid a move for Koulibaly.