Chelsea confirmed the departure of Kalidou Koulibaly to Al Hilal in Saudi Arabia on Sunday and I wanted to give a little shout out and tribute to the players I feel deserve it when they leave.
First of all, I want to say that in my opinion, signing Koulibaly at the time was not a mistake. I was vocal in backing the move and thought at the time, it was a smart buy. I actually think he might have kicked on in his second season here and once settled even more, we might have seen the best of him. But that doesn’t mean it is wrong to sell him now, because I have been all for that as well.
Obviously hindsight tells us it’s been a bit of a failed move due to how Koulibaly performed whilst he was with us for his one-year as a Blue, but I maintain that this was not a mistake signing. At the time, we were signing an experienced centre back who had been world class for many years in Italy. He could not settle and make the transition to the Premier League, which sometimes just happens with some players and is just unfortunate. But when we signed Koulibaly, we were signing a player who had leadership, and captaincy experience, and a player who was a great player.
It didn’t work out, and I am sad that it didn’t work out. But just as it wasn’t a mistake to buy him, we are also making the right decision to sell him now.
Koulibaly seems like a great human being, and I absolutely wish him the very best at Al Hilal. He never moaned when he wasn’t playing, and I even understand he was more than happy to stay at Chelsea this summer in whatever role the club could have given him. But Chelsea had Levi Colwill in their vision and seemingly knew that he is keen to see a pathway into the starting Xl at Chelsea, and the club wanted to invest time and their future in him, and rightly so.
We needed to get Koulibaly’s high wages off our accounts, and we also managed to pick up a small transfer fee for him, even after a relatively poor season.
Koulibaly cost Chelsea just over £30m, and he is leaving for just under £20m. It’s more important to get big wages off our bill, but that transfer fee isn’t bad at all with all things considered.
Colwill I am sure will be very pleased to see a player of Koulibaly’s experience moved on by the club, and this will sit well in contract negotiations. I am sure he will be very encouraged by Chelsea selling Koulibaly, make no mistake. I only see a positive ending now for Colwill and Chelsea.
It’s been a rough ride for Koulibaly and I do feel for him that it didn’t work out. He seemed to always be one of the positive figures around the club at the very least, and although he couldn’t do it on the pitch for us, I will never hold bad feelings towards him and I thank him for his time at our club and the contributions he did make here.
Koulibaly made 32 appearances at Chelsea in one season and scored 2 goals.
Thank you, Kalidou, and best of luck in Saudi.
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