MX23RW : Friday, November 8 16:31:23| >> :60:312:312:

Manchester City chief denies Kalidou Koulibaly interest

Man City chief denies Koulibaly interest
© Reuters
Manchester City's chief operating officer Omar Berrada denies reports that the club were ever involved in negotiations with Napoli for Kalidou Koulibaly.

Manchester City's chief operating officer Omar Berrada has denied reports claiming that the Citizens attempted to sign Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly during the transfer window.

Having established a reputation as one of the leading centre-backs in Europe, Koulibaly was persistently linked with a switch to the Etihad during the summer months.

However, Berrada has since revealed that the Premier League giants made no effort to strike a deal for the Senegal international, although Koulibaly was on City's radar for a little while.

"The truth is we never were in negotiations with his club at all about him," Berrada told The Athletic. "It was very interesting to see the amount of noise that was coming out from certain media outlets and social media.

"I smiled because there were certain instances where people were reporting that the deal was agreed, done, about to happen, he was going to be announced in a few days, when we were never in touch at all with Napoli about him.

"He's definitely a top, top player so some consideration was given to him, but really within some parameters that were very clear to us — and those parameters never came into play so he was never really considered in that sense."

Pep Guardiola's side managed to shore up their defence with the acquisitions of Nathan Ake from Bournemouth and Ruben Dias from Benfica, with Nicolas Otamendi heading in the other direction in the latter deal.

ID:417889: cacheID:417889:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:2807:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly pictured in July 2020
Read Next:
Man City accidentally 'confirm' Koulibaly signing
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
FT
Bengals
34-35
Ravens
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Liverpool108111961325
2Manchester CityMan City1072121111023
3Nottingham ForestNott'm Forest10541147719
4Chelsea105322012818
5Arsenal105321711618
6Aston Villa105321715218
7Tottenham HotspurSpurs1051422111116
8Brighton & Hove AlbionBrighton104421714316
9Fulham104331413115
10Bournemouth104331312115
11Newcastle UnitedNewcastle104331010015
12Brentford104151920-113
13Manchester UnitedMan Utd10334912-312
14West Ham UnitedWest Ham103251319-611
15Leicester CityLeicester102441418-410
16Everton102351017-79
17Crystal Palace10145813-57
18Ipswich TownIpswich100551021-115
19Southampton10118719-124
20Wolverhampton WanderersWolves100371427-133


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!