MU rejected 100 million euro offer for 'blockbuster'

Few people know that MU was very close to owning center-back Kalidou Koulibaly before the deal fell through because of coach Carlo Ancelotti's threat to leave his position.

MU failed to buy Koulibaly in 2018.

In 2018, when looking for a top-class center-back to strengthen the defense, Jose Mourinho's MU sent Napoli an offer of 100 million euros. That was a record price for a defender, enough to turn Koulibaly into one of the most expensive players in the world . The Senegalese star himself was also ready to leave Serie A to try his hand in the Premier League.

However, according to Koulibaly on the podcast Zack en Roue Libre , it was coach Carlo Ancelotti who blocked the transfer. "Napoli received an offer of 100 million euros from MU, but refused. Mr. Ancelotti came to me and said: 'I'm here to win the Scudetto. What do you want to do?' I replied: 'I want to leave, why not?'. Then he said: 'If you leave, I will resign the next day'."

That statement made Koulibaly think again. He said: "I believed that I had given my all to Napoli after four seasons. I felt it was time to move on to a new chapter, with the biggest contract of my career. But when Ancelotti called me to his room in the evening, he spoke French, hugged me and said 'mon ami Kalidou!' (roughly translated: my friend), that's when I understood that he really needed me to stay."

It wasn't until 2022 that the Senegalese midfielder left Napoli to join Chelsea for a fee of just 40 million euros. A year later, he left Europe for Saudi Arabia, joining Al Hilal in the "migration" wave of many big stars.

Source: https://znews.vn/mu-bi-tu-choi-loi-de-nghi-100-trieu-euro-cho-bom-tan-post1598567.html