Liverpool make £54m transfer bid for Kalidou Koulibaly as Jurgen Klopp demands deal

Posted Monday, June 22, 2020 by Express.co.uk

Liverpool make £54m transfer bid for Kalidou Koulibaly as Jurgen Klopp demands deal
Liverpool have made a bid for Kalidou Koulibaly (Image: GETTY)

Liverpool want to sign Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly in the summer transfer window.

Liverpool have made a £54million transfer bid for Kalidou Koulibaly, according to reports in Italy. Napoli have rejected the offer though but Jurgen Klopp is said to have demanded the signing of the powerhouse this summer.

Koulibaly is one of the most sought-after defenders in Europe and has impressed again this season

Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport claim Liverpool are the frontrunners for his signature as Klopp looks to further strengthen his squad.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis wants a massive £90m for Koulibaly – a figure which has been branded unrealistic in a post-coronavirus world.

The Reds have a number of options in defence at present.

Virgil van Dijk leads the backline with Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren all options to partner the impressive Dutchman.

Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain have previously been linked with Koulibaly but it is now the Premier League champions-elect who are the club most often mentioned as his next destination.

The Senegal international has been an ever-present for Napoli this season and helped them win the Italian Cup earlier this week with a penalty shootout victory over Juventus.

De Laurentiis has made it very clear what he expects in terms of money if Koulibaly is to leave Naples.

“If City or United or PSG with €100million showed up, I would think about it and it is probable that they would leave, always if [the player's] will was to leave,” De Laurentiis told Corriere dello Sport.

“I don’t even consider an offer of €60million (£55m), I am solid. If I wanted to win the Scudetto at any cost today I would find myself with three, four hundred million debts.

“I look around and see companies at 500, 600 million, less a billion, I don’t owe anyone a s**t.”

Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney believes Liverpool need to sign players for their bench but it is difficult to attract players for that role.

“Transfers-wise, the one thing Liverpool could strengthen is their bench,” Rooney wrote in his column in the Times.

“They could do with more back-up for that front three but passed on Timo Werner partly because they couldn’t offer a player of his calibre a starting position.

“It’s a bit like the Harry Kane situation at Tottenham in that you would hesitate to join Spurs as a No 9 because you know you won’t play ahead of Kane.

“Any forward approached by Liverpool will be thinking, ‘How am I going to get into that front three?’

“Top players don’t want to sit on anyone’s bench — maybe the solution for Liverpool is to get a brilliant young forward, like Manchester City did with Gabriel Jesus, who is willing to go there for a couple of seasons and learn.”