Manchester City are being invited to return for £60million Kalidou Koulibaly with Napoli keen to complete a deal.
The Italians are desperate to land Lille defender Gabriel dos Santos Magalhães as their replacement but can’t buy him until they have sold 29-year-old Koulibaly.
Arsenal have already agreed a £17million deal with Lille for Gabriel.
It means Mikel Arteta could snatch him from under Napoli’s noses unless they can sell Koulibaly quickly.
City have so far been unwilling to do business at the £70million for the Senegalese international want due to his age with no resale value.
City’s interest in Sevilla centre-back Diego Carlos as an alternative means they hold all the cards and could shave even more off Koulibaly’s valuation.
Manchester United are also keen on Koulibaly but the Senegal captain is believed to be keen to go to City.
Guardiola remains keen to add to his defensive ranks despite the £41million capture of Nathan Ake.
The Champions League loss to Lyon once more highlighted City’s defensive deficiencies, Meanwhile, Mundo Deportivo say Barcelona’s exit from the Champions League and subsequent overhaul of the management at the Nou Camp is unlikely to have an effect on their pursuit of Eric Garcia.
Manager Quique Setien and Director of Football Eric Abidal have left Barca in the wake of their 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich, with centre-back Gerard Pique saying he would be the first to volunteer to leave if the club wanted to move in another direction.
Now, the report (via SportWitness) say Barca still want to sign Garcia this summer, after he told City he won’t sign a new contract.
The fee for Garcia remains an issue for both sides, with City demanding ‘more than’ €20m, and Barca hoping to reduce that significantly for a player out of contract in ten months.