Napoli president, Aurelio De Laurentiis, has claimed that he couldn’t resist Kalidou Koulibaly’s move to Chelsea this summer.

Chelsea have been longtime admirers of Koulibaly, but a deal couldn’t be agreed for the Senegal international back in 2017.

The 31-year-old joined Chelsea in a £33 million transfer, and De Laurentiis has now revealed Barcelona also enquired about the defender.

According to De Laurentiis, he refused to sell the Senegal defender to Barcelona, because “they had no money”.

He told Radio Kiss Kiss: “Koulibaly wanted to leave, I told him: I can’t sell you to Barcelona as they had no money.

“Then we received a proposal from Chelsea, it was impossible to say no.

“I offered €6.5m/season to Koulibaly, he wanted to go.”

Barcelona are reportedly trying to hijack a move for Chelsea target Jules Kounde.

Spanish reporter Gerard Romero has claimed Barcelona have had a bid accepted for Kounde, but the rumour is yet to be substantiated.