Ligue 1 superstar agrees to join Barcelona, Real Madrid superstar to join Chelsea in the coming days and more, Transfer Roundup 19 December 2018

Manchester United had tabled an offer for Koulibaly; move now impossible

So it turns out the board had decided to back Jose Mourinho in the winter and get him the defender that he wants after all. The Red Devils reportedly made a whopping £95 million offer for the Senegalese defender. However, De Laurentiis has now confirmed that Napoli rejected that bid.

Speaking at a Corriere del Mezzogiorno event, De Laurentiis said,

"[Jose] Mourinho wanted him, we rejected £95 million,

But now it's impossible that he leaves Napoli."

Jose Mourinho has now been sacked by Manchester United and thus are expected to play the winter transfer window slightly differently than previously ordained.

Mourinho had made his discontent in not getting a defensive signing in the summer heard quite publicly and it all contributed to the negativity that enveloped the club; something that inevitably led to the 'Special One' getting the sack.

About the author

Shambhu is a European and international football journalist at Sportskeeda who focuses on previews, listicles and news articles. An ardent Manchester United supporter since before his teenage years, he started following the Red Devils by age 10 watching MUTV on television. Shambhu is also a highly-revered rapper and a playback singer on Spotify, having a whopping 1 million monthly listeners.

For his articles, Shambhu believes in triple-checking every piece of information, relying on trusted websites like Transfermarkt and Opta, and staying away from speculative publications. He believes that his law degree helped him to be more articulate and meticulous with his content and one of his core strengths is seamlessly involving emotion in his write-ups owing to the love for the sport. For Sportskeeda, has done exclusive interviews with Spanish legends Gaizka Mendieta and Fernando Morientes so far, and his articles boast of a huge readership of close to 50 million.

Shambhu's favorite footballer is Lionel Messi, and the Argentine attaining glory in 2022 is his favorite FIFA World Cup moment. He believes only Kylian Mbappe and Erling Haaland could replicate Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo's rivalry in the years to come. His favorite manager is Sir Alex Ferguson due to the Scot's unmatched longevity at the top.

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Edited by Arvind Sriram