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Manchester United are preparing a £100m bid for Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly – as reported by the London Evening Standard – as head coach Jose Mourinho looks to transform his defence.
The Chalkboard
Without being disrespectful, Victor Lindelof, Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo, Eric Bailly and Chris Smalling is not exactly a list of outstanding centre-backs.
Mourinho tried and failed to sign a new defender during the summer, with Tottenham Hotspur’s Toby Alderweireld and Leicester City’s Harry Maguire both strongly linked with moves to Old Trafford.
It appears that Koulibaly has become the number one target, however, and his arrival has the potential to make a similar impact to the one that Virgil van Dijk has enjoyed at Liverpool.
Having already had two bids rejected for Koulibaly, United will seemingly have to make the 31-time Senegal international the most expensive defender in the world if they wish to bring him to the club.
What will Koulibaly bring to United?
Pace, power, height and experience to name a few things.
Standing at close to 6ft 2in, Koulibaly is aerially dominant, while he has the turn of speed and physical attributes to escape potentially tricky situations.
The 27-year-old is also closing on 200 appearances for Napoli in all competitions, and played 92 times for Genk ahead of a move to Naples.
Koulibaly is at the perfect age to make the move to United, who would be signing one of the outstanding central defenders in world football.
At the moment, teams feel that they can get at Mourinho’s side, with their current crop of defenders not exactly dominant.
Koulibaly is absolutely everything that Mourinho wants at the heart of his defence though, and it would be a stunning capture for the Red Devils if they pull it off.
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