Chelsea
have completed a deal to sign Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly for a fee
in the region of £33m.
The central defender, who has 62 caps for Senegal, has signed a four-year
contract worth around £160,000 per week (£8.2m a year) net plus bonuses to
move to Stamford Bridge. He flew out to Las Vegas on Friday to join up with
his new team-mates on their pre-season tour of USA.
Koulibaly, who was also interesting Juventus, had just one year left on his
Napoli contract, and his signing follows the £47.5m capture of Raheem
Sterling from Manchester City.
"I'm very happy to be here with this team at Chelsea," Koulibaly said in a
statement. "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."
The Blues lost Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid and Andreas Christensen to
Barcelona this summer - both on free transfers - leaving Thiago Silva,
Trevoh Chalobah and Malang Sarr as the only senior centre backs in Thomas
Tuchel's squad.
Koulibaly, 31, made over 300 appearances for the Serie A club since joining
from Belgian side Genk eight years ago, being 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 still have an interest in Manchester City's Nathan Ake, Sevilla's
Jules Kounde, RB Leipzig's Josko Gvardiol and Paris Saint-Germain's Presnel
Kimpembe.
"Kalidou Koulibaly is one of the world's elite defenders and we are
delighted to be welcoming him to Chelsea," said new Chelsea co-owner Todd
Boehly.
"A great leader and an exemplary team player, Kalidou brings a wealth of
experience and attributes that will benefit our squad and the club as a
whole."
The Blues are also keen on Juventus' Matthijs de Ligt, but he reportedly
favours a move to Bayern Munich.
Werner: Koulibaly exactly what Chelsea need
Chelsea forward Timo Werner welcomed Koulibaly's new arrival at the club,
insisting he fits the bill perfectly.
"He is a brilliant defender who will give us strength at the back and is
exactly what we need after a lot of defenders left us," he told Sky Sports.
"He is a very good player from what I saw from him when I played against him
with Napoli, so he is just what we need."
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