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Chelsea’s hunt for defensive reinforcements continues and now they are being linked with Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly.
The Senegalese international has repeatedly been linked with moves to the Premier League over the past few years, but any moves have been thwarted by the Serie A club’s valuation of him.
However, with him out of contract at the end of next season, this has now dropped to £34 million, a figure that Chelsea have no problem in matching.
Now 31, Koulibaly is also attracting interest from Juventus. However, the player himself has indicated that he does not want to play for another Serie A club out of loyalty to Napoli, where he has spent the last eight seasons, playing over 300 games for the club.
A complication is that Napoli manager Luciano Spaletti has threatened to resign if the defender is sold because he believes Koulibaly is so integral to his team.
The Serie A club though also know this is their last chance to command a decent fee for him.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.