Napoli chairman Aurelio De Laurentiis has claimed that Chelsea flooded him with offers for defender Kalibou Koulibaly in the summer, going up as far as £50m.
Despite the number of offers Chelsea allegedly made, Koulibaly ended up staying in Italy, and Chelsea instead re-signed David Luiz from PSG.
De Laurentiis said: “They offered to me £30, 35, 40, 45, 50 [million]. “Mr. Conte I said, ‘[The] marina is behind me, follow me’, I offered him that.
“Last moment, two days before the closing of the market, I hear £58 [million] – something like that.”
Despite Koulibaly signing a new contract with Napoli. De Laurentiis refused to acknowledge that the player would remain after next summer.
He said: ”Koulibaly I need here to play. I need the players. “Koulibaly, this year, will remain here. Next year we will speak about.”
Chelsea have struggled at times defensively this season, but they have not been at full-strength for most of it.
Senegalese Koulibaly can play in centre-defence, right-back or as a defensive midfielder. He joined Napoli from KRC Genk in 2014 for £6.5m.
By Steve Osborne @BlizzardSteve75
