Yet again we see another example of a big transfer that’s been dragging on as the selling team look to find a replacement first.
The Evening Standard have looked at the situation with Napoli and Arsenal defender Sokratis, and it appears that he could hold the key to Man City getting Kalidou Koulibaly.
The report states that Napoli’s president has confirmed that the Italian side are working on a deal to sign the Arsenal defender, but it’s hard to see there being any major problems here.
He’s 32 years old and only has one year left on his deal, while he’s fairly low down in the pecking orders so you have to fancy that Arsenal will happily move him on.
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There is one potential issue here for City in that Napoli are not prepared to pay a fee for Sokratis, but they are hoping that Arsenal will still let him go if the Italian side agree to take on his £90k per week wages.
It sounds like Napoli are willing to sell Koulibaly to City so Pep Guardiola could finally get his man and improve the defence, but it could all go wrong if Arsenal dig their heels in and demand a fee.
Realistically it’s hard to see Arsenal getting a big fee anyway, so City and Napoli will be hoping that getting him off the wage bill will be a big enough incentive to convince Arsenal to cut ties.
Easy solution. Let him sign for them and when they get the funds from City, then pay the 5m we want.