Kalidou Koulibaly (31) has decided against Juventus Turin and for Chelsea. The Blues officially announced the signing of the centre-back from SSC Napoli on Saturday morning. According to unanimous media reports, the transfer fee is around 38 million euros – a handsome sum considering that the captain of Senegal only had one year left under contract. He has signed at Stamford Bridge until 2026 and earns around €10m per season.
Koulibaly’s presentation took place as part of the US tour in Las Vegas, where new signing Raheem Sterling (27), who was signed by Manchester City for €56m, also joined the team. “Chelsea first approached me in 2016 but it didn’t work out. Now when they tried I accepted because this time they really wanted me to go to the Premier League and play for them. My good friends Edou and Jorginho made the decision easy for me,” said Koulibaly.
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The central defender played with Jorginho (30) in Naples and knows Edouard Mendy (30) from the national team. Juventus were also interested in signing Koulibalys as a replacement for Matthijs de Ligt (22), who was willing to change and could move to Bayern for around 75 million euros. The Senegalese has made 317 appearances for Napoli since his 7.75 million move in 2014.
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