Nicol warns Liverpool against buying Koulibaly

FC Barcelona's Lionel Messi (R) in action against SCC Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly (L) during the UEFA Champions League

Sunday Sep 27, 2020. 13:00

English champions Liverpool FC have been warned against paying “silly money” for Senegalese star Kalidou Koulibaly.

Koulibaly’s Italian club SSC Napoli are reportedly demanding €100 million (£91m/$117m) for the world-class central defender.

Scottish legend Steve Nicol urged his former club, Liverpool to bring in another centre-half after selling Croatian defender Dejan Lovren to Russian giants Zenit Saint Petersburg.

“If the money is right [it’s a no-brainer]. But clearly, they’re asking for silly money,” Nicol told ESPN FC.

“The chairman at Napoli is well known for being tough to deal with. If it’s silly money it won’t happen, but I’d like to see it happen.

Nicol mainly played as a right-back and occasionally played in other positions across defence and midfield and he played for the successful Liverpool teams of the 1980s.

“The guy is absolutely in the prime of his career, he’s a great centre-back. Any team on the planet would like to have this guy, but it depends on the money,” he added.

“I think Napoli will be asking for too much money, so I don’t think it’ll happen. But it would be nice if it did.”

Koulibaly has been heavily linked with Liverpool’s Premier League rivals Manchester City.