Napoli must Koul price on defender by £20m

MICAH Richards said Kalidou Koulibaly’s asking price should be £20m lower after Napoli’s Champions League exit and compared the defender to Eliaquim Mangala.

City are looking to sign the defender as part of Pep Guardiola’s rebuild for next season. Nathan Ake has already been secured from Bournemouth in a £40m deal but the Blues are still chasing a long-term partner for Aymeric Laporte to belatedly replace Vincent Kompany.

Koulibaly has built an impressive reputation in Naples, and the Serie A club have conceded that the right price could mean that they sell the defender this summer.

Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis recently suggested that £80m could be the fee needed to prise the player from the Stadio San Paolo.

However, City favourite Richards was left underwhelmed after watching the centre-back in Napoli’s 3-1 defeat at the Nou Camp on Saturday night that saw them exit the Champions League at the last-16 stage.

Asked by fellow pundit Jamie

Carragher about the City target, Richards went as far as comparing Koulibaly to Eliaquim Mangala – an expensive signing from Porto in 2014 that in the end proved to be a calamitous transfer.

“I think his price-tag is £20m less,” he said on CBS Sports.

“Everyone talks about how he is supposed to be composed on the ball, he’s aggressive but I see similarities to Mangala – and he went to City and it didn’t really work out for him there, so I’m not totally convinced after that performance.”