Chelsea have signed defender Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli on a four-year contract for an undisclosed fee.
Koulibaly’s arrival comes after he scored 14 goals in 317 appearances eight seasons at Napoli where he had just one year left on his contract, having only won 2014 Supercoppa Italiana and 2019-20 Coppa Italia titles whilst in Italy.
“I’m very happy to be here with this team at Chelsea,” commented Koulibaly who began his career at SR Saint-Die in France before going on to join Metz, followed by a move to Genk, Belgium.
This isn’t the first time that Koulibaly has been linked with a move to Chelsea following a failed attempt in 2016, as he explained: “Chelsea came first to get me in 2016 but we didn’t make it. Now when they came to me I accepted it because they really wanted me to come to the Premier League to play for them.”
Koulibaly went on to admit that he has always wanted to play in the Premier League as he added: “It’s a big team in the world and my dream was always to play in the Premier League.
“When I spoke to my good friends Edou [Mendy] and Jorginho they made my choice easier so I’m really happy to be with you today.”
The 31 year-old also thanked supporters for their best wishes whilst he was in London as he concluded: “I want to thank the fans because I saw a lot of them in London and on the plane everybody was happy for me to be here.
“So I want to thank them and I hope the season will be really good and we will give some good moments to the fans.’”
Chelsea Chairman, Todd Boehly described Koulibaly as “one of the world’s elite defenders” and is “delighted” to welcome the Senegal international as “a great leader and an exemplary team player” who boasts “… a wealth of experience and attributes that will benefit our squad and the club as a whole.”
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