Video; Watch emotional moment Koulibaly was given a warm Welcome to Chelsea
After years of being linked with a move to the Premier League, the defender has finally touched down on English shores at the age of 31.
The Senegal international is the perfect replacement for Antonio Rudiger, who joined Real Madrid on a free transfer this summer.
“I’m very happy to be here with this team at Chelsea,” Koulibaly told Chelsea’s official website. “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.
“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.”
Koulibaly is among the best center-backs in world football and the prospect of him lining up alongside seasoned veteran Thiago Silva in 2022/23 is a mouthwatering one for Chelsea fans.
Good luck, Premier League strikers.
Koulibaly was exceptional at Napoli after arriving from Genk in 2014. He was included in the Serie A Team of the Year on four separate occasions and was also named Serie A’s Best Defender for the 2018/19 season.
Kalidou Koulibaly – 2021/22
Welcome To Chelsea pic.twitter.com/eyKXb7v8zz
— َ (@CheIseaComps) July 13, 2022
All those strengths to his game mentioned are on show in a wonderful ‘Welcome to Chelsea’ video that’s deservedly gone viral on social media.
In case you were unaware, Koulibaly was an absolute beast in 2021/22…Yeah, Koulibaly is pretty darn good!
Some of those slide tackles are a work of art, while he’s as comfortable playing off his left side as he is off his ‘stronger’ right – which really is perfect for Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel.
Of course, there is the small possibility that Koulibaly will struggle to adapt to the harsh demands of Premier League football, like many have down the years.
But it’s not like Serie A is a walk in the park, so we’re backing the towering centre-back to hit the ground running at Stamford Bridge and make Chelsea fans forget all about Rudiger.