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Kalidou Koulibaly is eyeing a move away from Napoli to Barcelona

  /  autty

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly wants to leave the club and prefers a £30million (€35m) move to Barcelona this summer, according to reports.

The Senegal defender - who has played more than 300 games for the Serie A club since joining in 2014 - has just one year left on his deal.

ESPN claim however he is trying to engineer a move out of the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona this summer rather than leave on a free, with the Catalan giants his favoured destination.

However, the same outlet claims Premier League duo Chelsea and Tottenham, as well as Italian giants Juventus, have tried to start talks for a move for the 30-year-old.

The report adds Barcelona are aware of Koulibaly's desire to join the club but have yet to make a move, despite boss Xavi wanting to strengthen his defence this summer.

The former midfielder reportedly wanted to sign Sevilla and France centre-back Jules Kounde, but a £55m (€65m) price tag and interest from the Blues is likely to prevent a move.

That has led them to pursuing Koulibaly, who is cheaper and can play on the left-hand side of central defence.

The same outlet also claim Barcelona will try to include a player in the deal, with Napoli open to Miralem Pjanic moving the other way in either a loan or permanent move.

Napoli meanwhile are reportedly keen to keep Koulibaly to stay and have offered him a new contract, but speaking earlier this week the club's president Aurelio De Laurentiis said he cannot 'force' the defender to stay.

'He [Kalidou Koulibaly] is a symbol of Napoli, and if he wants to no longer be a symbol, he must decide. We must decide. we want Koulibaly to stay, but people can't be forced to stay.

'Everyone has their own dignity and needs. We respect everyone.'