Manchester City have stepped back from their pursuit of Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly in order to prioritise a move for Lionel Messi, according to reports in Italy.
It has been claimed that the Citizens have been locked in talks about signing the centre-back for a number of weeks, but they have failed to match Napoli’s €80m (£72m) valuation so far.
With the Messi transfer now taking precedence, it appears that City have cooled their interest in Koulibaly, for the time being at least. Some supporters on Twitter are worried that the club are taking their eye off the ball by not focusing on reinforcing the backline:
City prioritizing the wrong deal.
— Mpho (@isaacxo17) August 28, 2020
Aouar & KK should be the priority, miss out on them & we’ve had a poor transfer window
— JackieSZN (@hundredmillie) August 28, 2020
65-70 would be alright … just dont lose interest like we did in Maguire’s case and not having a good rcb costed a league and ucl title
— Hammad Shafique (@KDBfan_) August 28, 2020
Koulibaly is more crucial ?????? ffs we’re doomed
— ? (@fredijeh) August 28, 2020
We don’t need Messi. He would be a fantastic addition, don’t get me wrong. But we don’t need him. Improving defense should be the priority.
— Jason Gilbey (@JasonGilbs) August 28, 2020
we’re gonna screw around and get neither ??♂️??♂️??♂️
— ?-? (@dollamenupapi) August 28, 2020
tf bro? koulibaly more of a priority than messi :/
— sbuda. (@supersbuda) August 28, 2020
the priority is koulibaly, messi is a great player for sure but the most priority is the defense
— Mathieu Sébastien (@MathSbastien) August 28, 2020
Please and please sign koulibali oooo
— omolakesin (@lakesinjunior) August 28, 2020
??? win-win situation, right?
— Sisa Canca (@RenderUntoSisa) August 28, 2020
The big question, though, is why prioritise one deal over the other? As Chelsea have shown in recent days, it is very possible to run negotiations concurrently for a number of players and get multiple transfers over the line.
Of course, both Koulibaly and Messi will be expensive transfers but, in terms of winning the Premier League, both should be deemed equally as important.