After three years of endless speculation, Kalidou Koulibaly finally looks set for a transfer to the Premier League - but not to Manchester.
Linked with both Manchester City and Manchester United in recent summers, Koulibaly has become almost a mythical centre-back for both clubs. Given so much hype, predominantly by Italian media, that he was presented as the player guaranteed to fix the centre-back issues of both Manchester clubs.
However, in 2019, United signed Harry Maguire and City did not consider Koulibaly to replace Vincent Kompany. A year later, and Koulibaly was a target, but Napoli insisted on a high price, so the Blues worked behind the scenes to sign Ruben Dias instead.
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Last summer, despite the signing of Nathan Ake, there were still reports connecting City and Koulibaly, but Napoli president Aurelio Di Laurentiis was firm across the last three summers that he would play hardball to get the highest price possible for the Senegal international.
Even this year, with talk of Ake returning to Chelsea, some outlets had tried to suggest City would return for Koulibaly as a replacement, but it seems Chelsea will be the side to finally bring the 31-year-old to the Premier League.
In 2019, Di Laurentiis wanted £100m for Koulibaly, and in 2020 wanted north of £70m, but City were only willing to go to £50m. In the end, they paid £60m for Dias, with Nicolas Otamendi leaving for around £13m to offset some of that cost.
It's claimed that Koulibaly will cost Chelsea just £35m - a fee helped by the fact that he has just one year left on his Napoli contract, and has hardly set European football alight in the last three years. City's long-held stance that they would not pay over their valuation for any player saw them stay clear of Koulibaly, and the arrival of Dias instead has meant that they will barely have thought twice about the Senegalese man in the last two years.
The benefits of holding firm and not overpaying for any player will have far more long-term positive effects, so even if Koulibaly is a success, City would look to the bigger picture. But there was once interest there, so there may now be some keen observers from Manchester looking to see how he would have fared in the Premier League - especially if he helps to strengthen Chelsea for a possible title challenge.
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