Manchester United are in a mess, and there are no two ways about it. The club’s defensive issues were pointed out by Jose Mourinho, but last summer saw the club spend to strengthen the wrong areas of the pitch that resulted in a terrible season.
The repair work is going to take a while, and though Ole Gunnar Solskjaer showed he can steer the club in the right direction, the club’s awful way of doing business in the last few years could be the biggest blow for them this summer.
The Red Devils have been linked with a move for Kalidou Koulibaly, but it’s going to take a lot of money and luck for them to get their man.
Here are three reasons why Koulibaly to Manchester United is unlikely to happen:
#3 Manchester United are facing competition from the bigwigs
Juventus and Manchester City are also in the race to sign Koulibaly as per reports, and considering the duo can offer the Senegalese a bigger chance of winning silverware almost immediately, Manchester United are on the back foot.
Juventus, in particular, are going to be hard to compete with because not only are they looking to phase out the likes of Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, who are in their 30s, but they also have Maurizio Sarri as their new manager.
Sarri, of course, managed Koulibaly at Napoli and played an important role in making the Senegalese the player that he is today. Can Solskjaer and co. compete with that?
#2 No Champions League football for Kalidou Koulibaly
The crème de la crème of competitions, really. Europa League is nowhere close to the Champions League, and Manchester United will find it hard to attract the top players with that.
Both Manchester City and Juventus can offer Koulibaly Champions League football, and might again be the front-runners to even win the competition when it starts later this year.
Koulibaly is 28, and he hasn’t won a lot in his career. Which club is he likely to join after spending years at Napoli, who themselves have been challengers for a while now?
#1 Manchester United are dealing with Aurelio de Laurentiis
For starters, he is extremely hard to negotiate with. The eccentric Italian, who is pretty outspoken, will only sell if he gets top dollar, and rarely does he budge from his valuation of players.
De Laurentiis famously put a €200 million price tag on Napoli star Lorenzo Insigne not so long ago, going on to claim: “He has a symbolic release clause.
“[Mino] Raiola and I have decided that if we get a €200m bid we’ll sell him. It’s not a written agreement, but a verbal one. €200m, is that clear?”
The Napoli president also claimed the club rejected a €100 million offer for Koulibaly last summer when the centre-half was linked with Manchester United and Napoli, so it’s going to be incredibly hard to Manchester United to spend a fortune and sign the Senegalese.
The only possible positive is that Napoli would rather sell him to a non Serie A club, but he will still cost a lot of money.