Kalidou Koulibaly’s agent has opened the door to a potential move for a Napoli defender this summer
Bruno Satin, Koulibaly’s agent, has said that the defender’s future at Napoli is not guaranteed and has hinted that Koulibaly and his party have issues with Napoli’s president, Aurelio De Laurentiis.
According to Satin, Koulibaly is still focused on helping Napoli in their attempt to overthrow Juventus at the top of the table and is relaxed about his situation, but Satin refused to confirm that Koulibaly would stay at Napoli beyond this season.
“ The player is very relaxed, I saw him after the game [against Real Madrid]. At the moment, we don’t want to talk about his future but with a president like this who has a lot to say, it is difficult for us to affirm 100 per cent that he will be staying at Napoli next season.
“[But] he wants to finish the season on a high even if it will be almost impossible to surpass Juventus for the league title,” Satin said, according to the Sun.
Koulibaly’s loss will be a huge blow for Napoli, as the defender has quickly become one of their most important players after joining the Italian side from Genk in 2014, for a fee that was reportedly worth £6.5 million.
The Senegalese international has also been one of their most consistent players this season and is a rock in defence. This season, Koulibaly is registering an average of 1.03 blocks, 2.22 interceptions, 4.66 clearances, 1.79 tackles won and 2.33 aerial duels won per 90 minutes, according to Squawka.
This news will come as a boost for Chelsea, who relentlessly pursued the defender in the summer. Antonio Conte is said to be a huge fan of the defender and Koulibaly was one of Chelsea’s primary targets in the summer.
However, Napoli refused to sell their defensive lynchpin, with Auerlio De Laurentiis even admitting that the club had turned down a whopping £50 million bid for the defender, at the time admitting that Napoli were open to doing business with Chelsea this summer.
Chelsea will definitely be on the lookout for defensive replacements once more this summer. John Terry is expected to leave the club at the end of the season and Branislav Ivanovic has already departed for Zenit St. Petersburg.
With Kurt Zouma also admitting that he could leave Chelsea should he fail to break into the first team, the Blues could find themselves woefully short of options at the back. Given their interest in Koulibaly, it will not be surprising to see them launch another attempt to bring the defender to Stamford Bridge.
