Manchester United agree terms for Serie A superstar, Real Madrid to battle Liverpool and Manchester United for £50 million star and more: Transfer Roundup, 6 January 2019

By Shambhu Ajith

Modified Apr 30, 2019 04:55 GMT

Solskjaer seems to be inching closer towards his first signing at Manchester United

Barcelona's bid for Kalidou Koulibaly rejected

One of the best defenders in the world right now

Barcelona have quite a dependable centre-back pairing in Samuel Umtiti and Gerard Pique. However, Clement Lenglet has impressed only sporadically and Vermaelen is often on the treatment table. Consequently, they are in the market on the lookout for a defender and are eyeing Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly, as per French outlet 221 People.

As per the report, Barcelona launched a £107 million bid for the Senegalese international but the Serie A side rejected it. Their valuation of Koulibaly is higher than that.

Koulibaly, meanwhile, has maintained that he is happy at Napoli. He had earlier said while renewing his contract that,

"I am very happy in Naples.

“My family and I were greeted very warmly upon my arrival.

“This renewal of contract, it is because I want to gain something with this club, the team which holds me the most with heart.”

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 Sripad