Koulibaly: Man Utd Were Close to Signing Me for €100 Million in 2018, but Ancelotti Persuaded Me to Stay at Napoli

According to Camel.live journalists, Senegalese center-back Kalidou Koulibaly, who currently plays for Saudi Arabian giants Al-Hilal, gave an interview and talked about his experience of nearly joining Premier League powerhouse Manchester United during his time at Napoli.
Koulibaly stated that Napoli’s head coach Carlo Ancelotti successfully convinced him to stay at the club back then, even though he had received a huge transfer offer from Manchester United.
Seven years ago, then-Manchester United manager José Mourinho was eager to sign a top center-back for the team and listed Koulibaly, Harry Maguire, and Toby Alderweireld as targets. At that time, Koulibaly was at the peak of his career at Napoli, so Manchester United submitted an offer that the Senegalese international recalled was worth €100 million (equivalent to £88 million today).
He was ready to move to the Premier League—back then, Manchester United’s preferred center-back pairing was Chris Smalling and Victor Lindelöf. However, Napoli was unwilling to let him go, and Ancelotti’s intervention changed everything.
“Napoli received a €100 million offer from Manchester United but rejected it,” Koulibaly recalled. “Ancelotti came to me and said: ‘I’m here to win the Serie A title. What are your plans?’ I replied: ‘I want to leave. Why do you ask?’ He said he knew about the offer, but if I left, he would resign the next day.”
Koulibaly, who joined Napoli from Genk for approximately £6.5 million in 2014, thought it was time to start a new chapter back then. But Ancelotti’s seasoned experience and persuasiveness finally made him change his mind.
“I thought my time at Napoli was over,” he added. “I had given everything. I spent four seasons there and could have gotten the most lucrative contract of my career. Ancelotti called me at night and said: ‘Come to my room.’ When he opened the door, he said in French: ‘Ah, my friend Kalidou!’ We were both in our pajamas. I was shocked. I explained to him that I was unhappy and felt the president had spoken to me disrespectfully.”
The deal fell through, and Koulibaly stayed at Napoli for another four years until he joined Chelsea in 2022. The center-back only spent one season at Chelsea before moving to Al-Hilal in 2023, where he still plays today.
Although Manchester United failed to sign Koulibaly, they still spent £80 million to sign Harry Maguire from Leicester City the following summer.