Norwich City's bid to bring in a new defender ahead of next week's transfer window deadline has seen them fail with an £8.7m move for Napoli's French enforcer Kalidou Koulibaly.

Sky Italia report on Thursday morning the Naples outfit have turned down City's offer as they hold out for £10.9m for the defender, who has also been touted with Premier League rivals Southampton and Germans' Bayer Leverkusen.

Alex Neil refused to be drawn on reports of a bid for Koulibaly when questioned prior to last week's 1-1 Premier League draw against Stoke City but the 24-year-old is believed to be on the Scot's watch list.

The 6ft 5in powerhouse can operate at centre back or right back and has had spells in French and Belgian club football before joining the Serie A club in May 2014.

Neil ran the rule over Marseille defender Nicolas Nkoulou in France on Sunday and the Canaries have also been heavily linked with the likes of Celtic's Virgil van Dijk and West Ham's James Collins in recent weeks.