Transfer Centre

Manchester City 'unwilling to talk to Napoli over Kalidou Koulibaly deal'

By Darren Plant, Senior Reporter | 04 September 2020

Manchester City are unwilling to hold direct talks with Napoli regarding Kalidou Koulibaly, according to the Italian outfit's president Aurelio De Laurentiis.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis has claimed that Manchester City are unwilling to hold direct talks over the transfer of Kalidou Koulibaly.

Despite being heavily linked with the centre-back for a number of weeks, City appear no closer to getting a deal for the Senegal international over the line.

At a time when Manchester United are being credited with an interest, De Laurentiis has suggested that City are making little effort to press forward with negotiations due to a previous failed attempt to sign Jorginho.

Speaking at a press conference, De Laurentiis said: "I have answered on this via SMS, because an important English newspaper wrote to me asking: 'What is happening with Koulibaly and Manchester City?'

"I answered that Manchester City is saying it can't talk directly with us because of the problem with Jorginho. How can we then proceed with a serious and serene negotiation for the transfer of a player? Is the reasoning clear?"

In 2018, City believed that they had won the race to sign Jorginho, only for the Italian to follow outgoing boss Maurizio Sarri to Chelsea.