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OFFICIAL: Chelsea announce Koulibaly signing

Published

2 years ago

July 16, 2022

Fahuyost (ANE Staff)

TRANSFERS: Why Chelsea splashed £34m on 31-year-old 'lion' Koulibaly

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Kalidou Koulibaly is Chelsea’s second signing of the summer under Todd Boehly.

Chelsea have announced the signing of Senegalese center back Kalidou Koulibaly from Napoli.

The Blues had previously agreed full terms with Napoli in one of the fastest deals under the newly-led Todd Boehly consurtium.

Chelsea have now welcomed Koulibaly via a post on the club’s official social media account that read: Another one #KoulibalyIsChelsea

Another one. 👌 #KoulibalyIsChelsea pic.twitter.com/fcexST5KSy

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 16, 2022

Koulibaly joins Chelsea on a four-year contract (until 2026) and is Thomas Tuchel’s first defensive reinforcement since the exits of Toni Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer.

Speaking on his move to Chelsea, Koulibaly said: ‘‘I’m very happy to be here with this team at Chelsea,’

‘It’s a big team in the world and my dream was always to play in the Premier League. 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. When I spoke to my good friends Edou and Jorginho they made my choice easier so I’m really happy to be with you today.”

He added: “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.” via the club’s website.

Chelsea win race for Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly

The Napoli captain who was also attracting interest from Barcelona and Juventus, had just one year left on his current contract with the Italians.

Koulibaly was in London ahead of his medical on Thursday after the Blues agreed a deal with Napoli for a fee of between £32m (€38m) and £33.7m (€40m) as per Sky Sports.

The experienced center back, who has 62 caps for Senegal, will also reportedly earn around £160,000 per week following his switch to Stamford Bridge.

The 31-year-old defender, has made over 300 appearances for Napoli since joining from Belgian side Genk in 2014.

He has also been named in the Serie A team of the year on four occasions, as well as being named the best defender in Italy in 2019.

Chelsea Transfer News

The Blues have already completed a deal for Raheem Sterling from Manchester City with the Englishman officially announced on Wednesday.

After Koulibaly, Chelsea have reportedly suffered a blow in their pursuit of Manchester City’s Nathan Ake with the Dutchman set to stay put instead.

The Blues are also said to be interested in a host of top defenders including: Sevilla’s Jules Kounde, RB Leipzig’s Josko Gvardiol and Paris Saint-Germain’s Presnel Kimpembe.

Thomas Tuchel has continued to make it clear that there will be serious defensive reinforcements at Stamford Bridge this summer and Koulibaly is just the start.