Everton up the ante in pursuit of Koulibaly

Lyndon Lloyd | Friday, 15 July 2016

0 Comment [Jump to last]

Everton are prepared to go as high as €50m (£42m) in order to secure Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly, according to a source in Italy.

Journalist Alfredo Pedullà¡ claims "exclusively" that the Blues' desire to secure Koulibaly means that they could shell out a good portion of the proceeds they would reportedly get from any sale to Manchester City of John Stones to beat off competition from Chelsea.

Reports in France and Italy have suggested that representatives from Everton met with their counterparts at Napoli this week to discuss the potential transfer of the 25-year-old to Goodison Park but this has yet to be confirmed, as is a rumoured opening offer of £38.5m.

In a report earlier this evening regarding the impending acquisition by Chelsea of N'Golo Kanté, the Telegraph claim that the Londoners are hopeful of signing Koulibaly as well and that the centre half would prefer to move to Stamford Bridge. The same report says that Koulibaly would still consider Everton if a switch to Chelsea doesn't pan out.

Pedullà suggests that a sale of Koulibaly could pave the way for Napoli to reopen negotiations with Torino for Nikola Maksimović.