He's a tier 1 CB. Worth the hype and the money, but already 27. I'd say it's pretty similar to VVD's case. With his contract running out in the summer of 2023, I'd say he won't leave for less than 100+ mil. In the summer, De Laurentiis (Napoli president) said they had rejected a 100 million euros from a PL club.Originally Posted by Givenchy
Kalidou Koulibaly is world class but due to his age, he is not worth becoming the (by far) most expensive defender in football history. De Laurentiis would not sell him for anything under 100 million euros. He would be close to an ideal fit though. He is a tremendous passer of the ball and his anticipation is amazing. One of my favorites but I can't see that happening. There were rumors about a possible interest 3-4 years ago. A shame that it never materialized but few could know that he would turn into such a defensive beast. Similar story to Van Dijk.
Bartomeu Dimissió!
A 100m move for prime years of a 27yr old CB isn't that bad an investment. I'd pay that in a heartbeat for a healthy dude like VVD and you'd get solid 6 years of elite defense. It's more to do with where he got with Napoli and where he hasn't yet been.
Some are boring, some are not.
A nice little short documentary/reportage about him. Seems like a really great guy as well.
If what De Laurentiis said about past offers for Koulibaly are anywhere remotely accurate, he will cost more than 100 million euros. In particular as he is more sought after than Van Dijk was before he moved to Liverpool. Clubs usually spend such large sums of money on offensive players (younger too) and with such large sums involved a potential failure (an injury, lack of acclimatization, being the wrong fit etc.) is tremendously harmful. There are always risk involved but when you talk about 100 + million euros for a 27 year old defender (with nothing to show for on his CV other than great performances in the early stages of the CL and relatively frequently in a underperforming, even if less so than not long ago, Serie A) it's a whole other ball game.
I personally would prefer to play that sum of money for a 20 year old de Light.
Koulibaly will turn 28 this June, so 1 year older than the previously thought (for my part), 27 years.
Last edited by Leo_Messi; 1st January 2019 at 11:57 PM.
Bartomeu Dimissió!
Sure, Dr Ligt seems a safer investment but Koulibaly wouldn't be much worse.
Some are boring, some are not.
Our board would rather sign the "New Varane" that's played 10 professional games in his life for free than spend 65-70m on de Ligt or 100m+ on Koulibaly even though we arguably need a new starter at CB soon with Pique's on and off form + Umtiti's injury worries.
How does De Ligt seem 'a safer investment'? Better if he makes it, but the risk is higher.
10+ years.
He's not going to flop. Anywhere.
Always better to go younger if apt options are there really. While resell value depends on a lot of things, only select few clubs would be willing to pay even half of that amount for a 29yr old who hasn't quite fitted in if it were the case.
That said you need somebody good enough to force Pique out of the team asap. Young guns won't do that.
Some are boring, some are not.
Signing a potential wc player instead of an established wc player can't be safer. It can be smarter, better or anything else, but I can't see how it's a safer option.
Whether he'll be good enough to start for Barca/insert big club for 10+ years is yet to be seen.
Obviously Koulibaly would be safer right now. Also a leader which is an underrated aspect that can improve the rest of the defence. However he's very happy in Napoli and De Laurentiis is a crazy mofo who will demand an absurd fee for him in the excess of 110m+.
That said it doesn't matter as we'll sign neither of them. Barca will probably try to sign de Ligt from PSG or Juventus next year when they realize how dumb they've been and need a defender who can come in and start right away
He'd improve our defense but he's not worth 100m.
Yes we should go for top players instead of mid players like Paco, Gomes and Arda, but at the same time we shouldn't throw money away.
Senegalese freight train. This guy would make the world of difference in our defence. I would even go as far as to say that if he improved his positioning he could easily go on to compete with VVD for the best CB in the world and surpass him.
Last edited by Ernesto GOATverde Tejedor; 18th September 2019 at 05:33 AM.
There's reports he want out of Napoli.
I don't see Barcelona doing it, but would you guys pay 80m+, close to 100m for Koulibaly? According to AS his preference is Barca.
While it's a lot of money for probably 4 years of production it's for a CB that could possibly have a Virgil van Dijk-esque influence on the backline.
Last edited by DonAK; 10th December 2019 at 12:33 AM.
We need immediate impact. He would be good. The price is freaking high though.
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