Everton Boss Ancelotti Wants To Sign Liverpool, Manchester United’s $122M Target This Summer: Report

Everton boss Carlo Ancelotti is reportedly planning to sign Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly this summer. Koulibaly has also been on the target list of Everton’s Premier League rivals such as Manchester United and Liverpool FC.

Last summer, Napoli had labeled Koulibaly with a price tag of around $122 million. Ahead of the 2021 summer transfer window, Ancelotti would be financially backed by Everton as the Merseyside club is eyeing to sign the Senegal center-back at a cut-price, an unnamed source informed sports website Talksport. International Business Times could not verify it independently.

Alex Crook, a transfer specialist at Talksport, has claimed that even though Everton may not bag the Champions League position this season, the club believes they have got the right manager in place in Ancelotti.

“Koulibaly is someone Ancelotti worked with at Napoli, he knows him well. There was an £89m ($122m) fee being talked about this time last year, but given the global economy when it comes to football, that fee would be dramatically reduced now. Ancelotti would like to get this deal done,” Alex Crook told Talksport.

Ancelotti will aim to help Everton finish at least in the top six of the 2020-21 Premier League in order to entice Koulibaly to Goodison Park. Everton currently are placed eighth in the table but have a game in hand. The 29-year-old center-back, who has worked under Ancelotti in the past at Napoli, still has two years left on his contract with the Naples-based soccer club.

Koulibaly has been at Napoli since 2014 and over the years, he has established himself as one of the best defenders in Europe. While many top European clubs have been chasing him, no deal has materialized because of Napoli’s hefty asking price for the Senegal national. However, it is understood that to reduce their wage bill for the next season, Napoli are prepared to slash Koulibaly’s transfer fee. That would mean, Everton will have competition from clubs like Liverpool and both the Manchester clubs in the race to sign Koulibaly.

With injury crisis struck Liverpool this term, the Reds are looking to sign an established center-back to bolster their depth for the next campaign. Meanwhile, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is looking for a suitable candidate to partner his skipper Harry Maguire at the backline of Manchester United.