Rijo Sam Daniel
Napoli identify Manchester United star Eric Bailly as a potential Kalidou Koulibaly replacement
According to transfer specialist Alfredo Pedulla (h/t The Irish Sun), Napoli have identified Manchester United star Eric Bailly as a potential replacement for the outgoing Kalidou Koulibaly. The latter is in line to join Chelsea on a permanent transfer this summer which could pave the way for a string of moves.
The Serie A giants are in negotiations with Man United over a move for Bailly and have even contacted the defender to make their case. That being said, he is not the only option on their transfer shortlist, which makes this deal far from being guaranteed at this point.
Fiorentina ace Nikola Milenkovic, Udinese defender Rodrigo Becao and Fenerbahce’s Kim Min-jae are some of the other options that are on the radar as of now. That means the Red Devils could still find it quite difficult to part ways with Bailly to meet their needs for this summer.
Can Man Utd sell Bailly this summer?
The Manchester club has already made Bailly available in the transfer market as they are willing to listen to transfer proposals for the centre-back. Now that the Italian side has emerged to become a potential destination for the centre-half, it remains to be seen if a move can be finalised.
Koulibaly appears to be close to switching to Stamford Bridge which is certainly a boost indeed. After all, that would force Luciano Spaletti’s side to look for options which may just prompt them to actively pursue Bailly to plug the gap in their squad ahead of the upcoming season.
Perhaps, Bailly’s recent performance in the 4-0 victory over Liverpool could give them further assurances of his quality. After all, the Ivorian was a rock at the back for us, keeping our bitter rivals from scoring past our net in the process.
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With Lisandro Martinez looking likely to join us from Ajax shortly, we are given all the more reason to part ways with Bailly this summer. One could say that the latter can be a solid backup option, but one could never say when he would run into another injury problem, just as the 28-year-old did in the past few years.
Only time will tell how this situation will pan out in the coming days or weeks up ahead. Let’s hope to see a solution to this matter so that we can divert our attention to other transfer business that needs to be done soon enough.
