Kalidou Koulibaly still not for sale, still not leaving Napoli

Chelsea tried very hard to get defender Kalidou Koulibaly, who supposedly wanted out from Napoli this summer, but after a protracted transfer saga that left little time to find alternate solutions, Koulibaly ended up staying in Italy and Chelsea ended up re-signing David Luiz.

That development has turned out far better than expected; meanwhile, Koulibaly mended his relationship with the Napoli leadership and reaffirmed his commitment to the team. He’s also signed the promised new contract, which, alongside a payrise, was rumored to include a release clause somewhere in the region of £70m.

K2’s agent Bruno Satin was recently on Italian radio to talk about his client’s happy, Neapolitan future.

“I don't live in the past, all opportunities and negotiations have been forgotten. I look at the present and the future.”

“Several clubs were interested in Koulibaly, but he's a Napoli player and he's focused on Napoli.”

“I’m not aware of the Azzurri’s price being €75m, the President [Aurelio De Laurentiis] always said he wasn’t for sale.”

-Bruno Satin; source: Radio CRC via Football Italia

One thing that was indeed made abundantly clear in the summer was that Koulibaly wasn’t for sale. Napoli toyed with Chelsea as the Blues submitted bids of £30m, £40m, £50m to meet the ever increasing supposed asking price — only to be with rejection each and every time. As it turns out, Everton had a similar experience. Here’s their new owner Farhad Moshiri speaking to talkSport.

“We tried to buy [Kalidou] Koulibaly from Napoli and they wanted £60million. Every defender in Europe now is £50million. It is just monopoly money, it doesn’t mean anything. We competed with Chelsea, we went right to the asking price, but the club didn’t sell – neither to us or to Chelsea.”

-Farhad Moshiri; source: talkSport

Clearly Koulibaly is going nowhere; it’s a good thing Chelsea’s woes in defense have been sorted out. For now.