Man Utd Had £88m Transfer Bid Rejected After Manager Threatened to Quit

Manchester United reportedly had a £88 million bid rejected after the manager threatened to quit the club.

Over the years, United have spent big to bring in some of the world's best players.

The likes of Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes, Angel di Maria and Paul Pogba are some examples of big-money signings made by the Old Trafford club.

However, back in 2018, United failed to lure a player to the club after having a huge bid turned down.

At the time, the Red Devils were interested in Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly and even placed a bid worth €100 million (£88 million) for the Senegal international.

However, depsite Koulibaly expressing his desire to leave Naples for Manchester, manager power eventually came into play.

Recalling the transfer saga, Koulibaly himself revealed that then-Napoli boss Carlo Ancelotti threatened to leave the club if he was sold to United.

As reported by One Football, Koulibaly said to the Podcast Zack en Roue Libre (via TMW): "Napoli had received an offer worth €100m from Manchester United, but they rejected it. Ancelotti came to me and said: ‘I came here to win the Scudetto. What do you want to do?’

"I replied: ‘I wanted to leave, why?'"

He continued: "He [Ancelotti] said he knew about he offer, but if I had left, he would have resigned the following day."

Kalidou Koulibaly now plays for Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia. Image: Getty

Koulibaly went on to explain why he wanted to leave Napoli.

He said: "I thought my time at Napoli was over; I had given my all. I had spent four seasons there, and I could have had the best contract of my career.

"In the evening, Ancelotti called me and said: ‘Come to my room.’ He opened the door and said: ‘Ah, mon ami Kalidou!’ He spoke French, we were both wearing a pyjama; I was shocked."

Koulibaly added: "I explained to him that I wasn’t happy and that I thought the president had lacked respect towards me for the way he spoke."

Eventually, Koulibaly left Napoli for Chelsea in 2022 in a deal worth a reported fee of €40 million.

In the summer of 2023, Koulibaly was one of several big-name players who ditched European football for Saudi Arabia when he signed for Al Hilal.