Manchester City are looking to sign the defender as part of Pep Guardiola’s rebuild for next season. Nathan Ake has already been secured from Bournemouth in a £40m deal but the Blues are still chasing a long-term partner for Aymeric Laporte to belatedly replace Vincent Kompany.
Koulibaly has built an impressive reputation in Naples, and the Serie A club have conceded that the right price could mean that they sell the defender this summer. Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis recently suggested that £80m could be the fee needed to prise the player from the Stadio San Paolo.
However, City favourite Richards was left underwhelmed after watching the centre-back in Napoli’s 3-1 defeat at the Nou Camp on Saturday night that saw them exit the Champions League at the last-16 stage.
Asked by fellow pundit Jamie Carragher about the City target, Richards went as far as comparing Koulibaly to Eliaquim Mangala – an expensive signing from Porto in 2014 that proved to be a calamitous transfer.
“I think his price-tag is £20m less,” he said
“Everyone talks about how he is supposed to be composed on the ball, he’s aggressive but I see similarities to Mangala – and he went to City and it didn’t really work out for him there so I’m not totally convinced after that performance.”
