Good news for Juve and Barça: Koulibaly rejects renewal offer

Kalidou Koulibaly's contract with Napoli expires in June 2023 and he has rejected a renewal offer to extend it until 2026. This is the information published by the media 'Quotidiano Roma', which specifies that the proposal was low, with a salary of 3.5 million euros per year that the central defender has decided to decline.

This situation has given hope to the two clubs that have been most in the race to sign him recently, Barcelona and Juventus. The main problem for the Spaniards to sign him lies in his price, but if he does not extend his stay in the Italian team, there could be approaches from January onwards for him to land for free in Barcelona for the 23-24 season.

The 'Vecchia Signora' do enjoy more budgetary leeway, but that does not mean they will negotiate a deal that could be very damaging to their finances. Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis has already shown in several public statements that he will not make it easy to sell the defender, who is one of the best in the squad.

Koulibaly's refusal to stay at Napoli has given a glimmer of hope to those who are keen to sign him. Moreover, perhaps he would welcome a change of scenery. He has been with the same club since the 2014-15 season, when he arrived in the big leagues after leaving Genk.