Kalidou Koulibaly vs Virgil van Dijk: How the Manchester City and Manchester United target stacks up against the Liverpool defender
Kalidou Koulibaly has often been linked with a Premier League move and is widely regarded as one of the best centre-backs in Europe.
Over the last couple of seasons he’s been linked with just about every top club in Europe.
He has reportedly been a target for Manchester United, Real Madrid and Liverpool.
The latest rumours are that Man City want to sign the defender from Napoli with the Italian press claiming the player’s agent has flown into Manchester to get the deal done.
The fees quoted for the 29-year-old have ranged from a world-record £90million to around £60m.
Assuming that he could be joining City, he would likely cost a similar price to Liverpool’s Virgil van Dijk.
The Netherlands International was the final piece of Jurgen Klopp’s puzzle that turned them into European and Premier League champions.
Pep Guardiola would want a similar effect if he were to land Koulibaly. Goals were far from the problem last season, it was conceding in close games that was the issue.
Here at talkSPORT.com, we’ve taken a look at the stats from the last season, from , to compare Koulibaly and Van Dijk to see who has performed better.
A caveat to the data should be that Liverpool won the league with 99 points losing just three games all season.
Napoli had problems on and off the field with managerial changes and finished a disappointing seventh.
Defensive
Defensive statistics
Virgil van Dijk
Tackles - 30
Dribbled past - 9 (15 attempts)
Clearances - 259
Mistakes leading to goals - 2
Pass completion - 90.5%
Aerial dues won - 81%
Kalidou Koulibaly
Tackles - 61
Dribbled past - 11 (33 attempts)
Clearances - 92
Mistakes leading to goals - 1
Pass completion - 92.1%
Aerial duels won - 64.9%
Virgil van Dijk made fewer tackles and was dribbled past two fewer times than Koulibaly but the data suggest that the Napoli defender was put under far more pressure.
Only 15 people attempted to dribble past Van Dijk compared to 33 for Koulibaly. The Serie A defender actually stopped a far greater percentage.
The most intriguing defensive stat is the Liverpool man’s far greater record in the air winning a hefty 81 per cent of his aerial duels.
Van Dijk also made a mammoth 259 clearances, suggesting that he was able to sniff out the danger before it escalated.
Attacking
Attacking statistics
Van Dijk
Goals - 5
Shots - 30
Assists - 1
Key passes - 7
Chances created - 22
Kalidou Koulibaly
Goals - 0
Shots - 15
Assists - 0
Key passes - 9
Chances created - 20
Virgil van Dijk also proved to be the far greater goal threat than Koulibaly, who contributed no goals or assists last season.
The season before, the Napoli defender still only managed two while Liverpool’s main man contributed four.
Although defenders are not necessarily signed for their attacking prowess, extra goals throughout the season can prove invaluable.
Who's better?
Virgil van Dijk is one of the best centre-backs in world football and even finished second in the 2019 Ballon d'Or, behind Lionel Messi.
The Netherlands international had a tremendous impact on Liverpool to help them win a Champions League title and Premier League.
His defensive statistics are brilliant and he was the leader in the defence that conceded just 33 goals in the league last season.
Koulibaly is undoubtedly a talented defender but lacks the supporting cast around him at Napoli.
Top class centre-backs are hard to come by at the moment - as illustrated by Chelsea's decision to sign 35-year-old Thiago Silva rather than anyone else.
Koulibaly would be a good option for Man City, or Man United, but he is not at the same level as Van Dijk at this time.
