As stated many times before, Barcelona needs a new defender. Their current duo of Ronald Araujo and Gerrard Pique is alright however with Pique is losing his touch with his age and they need someone to replace him. Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti, Eric Garcia, and Oscar Mingueza are some options left for the club however, they all have their own problems which made Xavi realize that he really needs a new centre-back. He needs someone with experience who can guide Araujo in a manner similar to how Carlos Puyol guided Pique. His latest target was Kalidou Koulibaly however, there is a big problem.
Barca were firstly looking to bring in Andreas Christensen for free from Chelsea however, now it seems that he might stay back with the Blues plus the mighty Bayern are also interested in him making it difficult for Barca to acquire him. Koulibaly is a good alternative since he has a lot of experience, is entering the last year of his contract and also does not want to extend his contract with Napoli. He is 30 years old now which doesn’t make him an ideal option however, he still has about four to five years left to give.
Napoli reveal Kalidou Koulibaly’s transfer price to Barcelona
The main problem that is arising with this transfer is that Napoli is demanding at least 70 million pounds for the player. While this would have been acceptable a few years back, given the fact that he is 30 now, it seems too much of an ask. The Catalans cannot afford to pay that much for a player since they also have to bring in Erling Haaland next window and that will cost over 100 million euros at least. Unless the Italian giants are willing to lower their asking price, this is one transfer, we are sure, that will not go through.
Should Barca sign Koulibaly?