At this point, the secret is out – while Kalidou Koulibaly arrived at Chelsea with plenty of hype, he sadly failed to live up to even a fraction of it.
Error-prone, aloof and sluggish, Koulibaly looked like a shadow of the player who he had appeared to be during his lengthy stint in Serie A last season.
Chelsea paid a reported fee of £33 million to secure Koulibaly’s services – now, he has left the club to join Al-Hilal for a price of £20 million.
What’s more, Napoli improved in Koulibaly’s absence. After the towering Senegalese defender left the club, Gli Azzurri won their first Serie A title in over 30 years – in dominant fashion.
What made Kalidou Koulibaly a success at Napoli?
At Napoli, although the Italian club chopped and changed their manager several times while Koulibaly was at the club, they generally played with a deep backline and looked to soak up pressure.
This was in contrast to Chelsea, whose three managers looked to push their team higher up the pitch – this was not a suitable fit for Koulibaly’s aging legs.
Additionally, he was rarely played alongside players who complimented him very well. He generally found himself alongside Thiago Silva who, like Koulibaly, is simply too old to playing such an intense style of defensive play.
How can Chelsea improve on Koulibaly?
One player who Chelsea fans have been clamouring to see in the first team is academy graduate Levi Colwill. While he is a different style of defender to Koulibaly, being more of the ball-playing mould, he would be a brilliant partner to Thiago Silva.
A calm, composed centre-half, Colwill was excellent while on loan at Brighton last season. He played a pivotal role in the Seagulls’ campaign, that saw them finish 6th in the table – qualifying for the Europa league in the process. Chelsea, meanwhile, finished 12th after a deeply underwhelming year.
On top of this, it can be expected that Benoit Badiashile will play a larger role in the Blues squad next season. He was consistently Chelsea’s second best centre-back in 2022/23 (behind Thiago Silva). Additionally, he is only 22 – he is only going to get better with age.