Barcelona have reportedly decided to make a move for Kalidou Koulibaly in the summer transfer window of 2023, on a Bosman deal.
According to reputed Italian journalist Gianluca Di Marzio on Wett Freunde, Barcelona have decided to push their pursuit of Kalidou Koulibaly for the summer of 2023, when he will become a free agent.
Koulibaly has been one of the standout defenders in Serie A since joining Napoli from KRC Genk back in 2014. The 31-year-old has been heavily linked with a big move away from the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium almost every summer in the past few years, but Napoli have held on to him by placing exorbitant transfer fee demands.
However, Koulibaly has entered the final year of his contract with the Partenopei and has decided not to renew his contract, leading to speculations over his future. There has been interest from Chelsea and Juventus, although the defender is believed to be keen on joining Barcelona, who are also interested in the Senegalese international.
Barcelona had been planning to sign Koulibaly this summer itself, despite recently completing the signing of Andreas Christensen on a Bosman deal from Chelsea. The Catalans have parted ways with Clement Lenglet, albeit on loan, while they are also set to offload Samuel Umtiti and Oscar Mingueza.
With Eric Garcia not inspiring confidence in his debut season and Gerard Pique struggling with injury problems, Barcelona’s pursuit of another defender makes sense. To that end, Xavi Hernandez has identified Sevilla’s Jules Kounde as his priority target, although his valuation is proving to be an issue.
Hence, Koulibaly had emerged as a possible target for Barcelona, given his contract situation, which made him an attainable target for the Catalans. The Senegalese international is reported to favour a move to Barcelona as well, which stacks the odds in their favour.
However, as reported by Di Marzio, Barcelona are not in a position to strike a deal with Napoli for Koulibaly at this point, due to which they have decided to make a push for his signing on a Bosman transfer in 2023. But with Chelsea and Juventus also in the mix, such a strategy could backfire for the Blaugrana.
Chelsea are in the market for reinforcements at the back having lost Christensen and Antonio Rudiger. As for Juventus, they are looking at Koulibaly as a potential replacement for Matthijs de Ligt, who is likely to leave this summer amidst interest from Chelsea and Bayern Munich.
Furthermore, Napoli would be reluctant to lose Koulibaly on a free transfer next summer and might look to strike a deal with either Chelsea or Juventus this summer itself. So, it remains to be seen whether Barcelona decide to make a play for Koulibaly this summer or risk the possibility of missing out on him completely by holding off their pursuit until next year.
