Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly was reportedly expecting to make the move to Manchester City this summer.
Pep Guardiola's side have long targeted the 29-year-old defender but were unwilling to meet Aurelio De Laurentiis' asking price of £72million.
City instead made the move to bring the £64m Ruben Dias to the Etihad Stadium from Benfica last month.
Koulibaly had been 'certain' of making the move to City, according to Corriere dello Sport.
But the Italian newspaper reports that he was willing to stay, despite having his hopes of a big-money move dashed.
They also claim that Koulibaly's agent had met with Napoli chief De Laurentiis to discuss a potential contract extension, along with a wage hike.
But they say that there still remains every chance that the Senegalese international will make the move to the Premier League in the future.
City's social media team even made the embarrassing gaffe of claiming they had signed Kouliably instead of Dias on the club's website last month.
The club had a template set up for the Koulibaly signing instead, and forgot to change a section at the bottom of the article.
Fans, therefore, were given a chance to win a signed Koulibaly shirt, despite him still plying his trade in Serie A for Napoli.