If De Ligt is heading to PSG or Barca, we should sign Koulibaly. He is overpriced, but we could end up spending almost that amount of money on Maguire (who is not as good as Koulibaly).
Kalidou Koulibaly
- Thread starter Sassy Colin
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The Koulibaly/Maguire debtate seems to be based on what kind of system Ole wants to run and the role of the CB in that system. Koulibaly is an immense defender and clearly technically much better in that role than Maguire but Maguire has a ton of confidence bringing the ball out from the back and is willing to play attacking balls and drive the team forward. If we are going to play on the front foot and look to dominate from back to front then Maguire is a better system fit, if we are going to be more of a counter attacking team based on rock solid defending then it is Koulibaly all day.
Maguire and KK would be a brilliant partnership. We are the richest club - just fecking show the world we are that.
Unfortunately we have never in our history acted in this manner.
You are the first person to make that point and when you look at it maybe that's why we are looking at Maguire over Koulibaly.
I thought Koulibaly was able to play out from the back though from the videos that I had seen of him.
I think the high price is putting them off him which is a shame because think he would make a huge difference to the defence.
Koulibaly is superb on the ball
I only go back to the early 90s. Under Fergie we were happy to go out and nab the league’s best player or best up and coming talent every few years. But we never really went out and dominated the market in a way that reflected our self-image as the world’s biggest club. We never challenged the big continental sides for the very top players.
He is, it is just the style of play. To be clear this is not my opinion but what I have picked up from watching the pundits on ESPN etc. discussing the likely destinations of top players. They mostly see Maguire being a better fit for City because they place less of a premium on defensive solidity and actually like their defenders to take risks in attack which seems to be a big part of his game. I personally think that if that is the case we should be buying Koulibaly unless we are also adding a sweeper keeper to replace DDG and switching to a high line building from the back.
If we're going to spend £90m on Maguire we should just trigger Koulibaly's release clause. Simple as.
Dude. I just thought you should know that K2 has more joga bonito than Maguire will ever have. He's better at bringing the ball out from defence, he's better at passing through the lines. He's faster too.
Maguire is way better at heading. That's it. And I'm a fan of Maguire btw.
Good to know, I have not seen enough of K2 to know what he is like as an attacking force so I was assuming Craig Burley knew what he was talking about, not a smart decision by me 
This was your first mistake.
So City are in for him now and have offered 95 Million.
We are the laughing stock of the transfer market!
We are the laughing stock of the transfer market!
Doubt they would pay that much. Napoli probably surprised we haven’t come back for him and leaked this story.
And they’ve rejected it too? K
Would love him at City. Alongside Laporte, what a partnership that could be. I'll wait until a reliable source speaks before getting my hopes up though.
Why did it take until June to realise he wasn’t for sale? We should’ve enquired in April and found that out, and moved on to other targets.
Exactly he isn’t for sale and if he was would cost a price we wouldn’t be prepared to pay, same goes for Maguire.
We should know or learn these things much quicker and move on. Seems like we spend ages before coming to some form of realisation though and then it’s panic stations.
Annnd just like that, Ducker pours cold water all over this one. You can cease the meltdown, some of you.
Whatever he costs, KK should be the defender we sign this window. I literally don't care if the club pays 150m to get him in.
Makes sense. City lose a great defender so they go out and buy an equivalent.
Napoli playing games trying to drum up business of their best asset. But only in their chairman’s tiny mind is he worth that amount
He’s not equivalent though. Their former captain was good at everything only injuries held him back. KK can’t head a decking ball and it remains to be seen whether he can survive in a faster tempo environment
Woody will always prefer the cheaper one, which is why we will always be left behind.This great club is going backwards with the Glazers and Woodward running it.
I genuinely don't understand what this has to do with Koulibaly?
Not a laughing stock, more of a growing irrelevance. The club is run horribly and has been for years, I do not see an end in sight.
It's just Napoli agitating because they realized their first gambit didn't work. No one's paying that amount. Neither United nor City.
Koulibaly is the costliest of all the CB's we are interested in, although the best. Woodward will go for the cheaper one.So we will never be tops again as long as he is in charge of transfers.
I don't think that's true, Napoli are just playing the game. We will buy Koulibaly if we can get the price to about £60m.
No chance then, mate.
Not a City signing imo (price, age) at all. Pep would rather push for De Ligt if a CB is needed.
That's day dreaming. Impossible. For that price we're struggling to even get Harry Maguire.
70m euros is quite reasonable for someone who turns 28 tomorrow. They've apparently knocked 60m off the 150m they were "demanding" before. As I said, it's all games. Even if it's £60m with add ons, would be more than fair.
Imagine the scenes on here if City signed him.
They're not forced to sell. They'll be pretty happy to keep him around forever, so thinking 60-70 will be good enough for them doesn't make sense.
Top counter arguement.
No they're not forced to sell, but they will never get offer like it again and could easily reinvest that in Italy. Not only that, he may very well want to move on - he's only on 3.5m a year. He's also been there for 5 seasons, to get over 10x that 5 years later is great business.
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