The Maksimovic problem: what will Napoli and Torino do?

There is a 90 per cent chance Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly will not move to Chelsea, according to Sky in Italy.

Antonio Conte has been chasing Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly but have failed to agree a fee for the Senegal worldwide.

Though the Granata centre-back and Chelsea target really wants to play Champions League football and is very much in demand at Napoli, many Partenopei fans aren’t convinced that spending the €25m president Aurelio De Laurentiis has offered is really worth it, seeing as Maksimovic saw his 2015-2016 season be hampered by injuries and poor performances.

“Maksimovic wanted to be sold, but with Mihajlovic’s arrival, the situation changed – we had promised the coach that we would not sell him and in turn promised the player a raise”.

Keeping an unhappy player with the threat of missing out on their first-choice replacement could leave the Italian club in a hard position in the long run.

The Torino director of sport Gianluca Petrachi has confirmed Napoli are interested in their centre back but also said another English club is interested as well.

The Serbia global missed training and Torino’s opening 3-2 defeat at AC Milan on Sunday, but sporting director Gianluca Petrachi is in no rush to sell the centre-back.

“Now he is wanted by a big foreign club too, but at the same time we won’t rule out him staying”.

It seems Conte has planned for disappointment though, with AC Milan defender Alessio Romagnoli believed to be on his radar too.

Having signed striker Michy Batshuayi and midfielder N’Golo Kante, Conte had hoped to secure another four players in August.

Marko Marin, who joined Chelsea four years ago but started only two Premier League games for the club, has joined Olympiakos on a permanent deal.