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Manchester City set to get the better of Barcelona for another signing

By Aaditya Sibal

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City celebrates his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League group C match between Manchester City and Dinamo Zagreb at Etihad Stadium on October 01, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Victoria Haydn/Manchester City FC via Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - OCTOBER 01: Pep Guardiola, Manager of Manchester City celebrates his team's first goal during the UEFA Champions League group C match between Manchester City and Dinamo Zagreb at Etihad Stadium on October 01, 2019 in Manchester, United Kingdom. (Photo by Victoria Haydn/Manchester City FC via Getty Images) /
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Barcelona have decided to invest in a world-class defender who can help support the backline of the Spanish giants in the upcoming season as Samuel Umtiti and Junior Firpo are set to leave the Camp Nou.

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Barcelona’s backline has struggled this season as Junior Firpo hasn’t been able to adapt to the defending La Liga champions style of play. Moreover, long term injury to Samuel Umtiti has tampered the performances of Gerard Pique and Clement Lenglet who have been overused and overworked by his injury.

One defender that has been heavily linked with a transfer with the Spanish giants is Kalidou Koulibaly who has acted as the anchor in Napoli’s defence. The Senegal international is desperate to leave Italy and reestablish his career playing for a bigger team in the upcoming transfer window. Koulibaly has an estimated market value of around 60 million euros and has been heavily linked with Premier League clubs such as Manchester United and Manchester City.

Pep Guardiola is currently leading the race to sign the defender as stated by the Don Balon. This is because the Napoli management has hinted that they would be willing to sell Koulibaly for around 100 million euros which no other team is willing to offer at this given moment of time. The defender feels this might not be the best move for his career as he miss out on the opportunity to play Champions League football over the next few seasons which he isn’t eager to do.

The outbreak of the coronavirus has affected Napoli financially and has led to the club listing certain players such as Fabian Ruiz and have decided against renewing Dries Mertens‘ contract to save funds. Many experts believe that the Italian club might even consider reducing the asking price for their star defender.

Barcelona must capitalize on this opportunity and use their resources aptly to sign Koulibaly. One way the La Liga leaders could do this is by including other players such as Philippe Coutinho, Arturo Vidal and Ivan Rakitic to bring down Napoli’s asking price in their transfer negotiations.

However, this is move only be possible if Lionel Messi allows the club to use their money to sign the defender instead of signing the offensive duo of Lautaro Martinez and Neymar.

Next. Neymar could ditch Barcelona and join Cristiano Ronaldo at Juventus. dark

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