EPL: Koulibaly set for Chelsea medical as £33m fee agreed with Napoli
Kalidou Koulibaly will travel to join Chelsea in pre-season after booking his medical to complete a £33million move from Napoli.
The 31-year-old will sign a four-year deal before joining his new team-mates in the United States. Koulibaly will earn around £8m a year, with a further £1m available in bonuses.
Kalidou Koulibaly has arrived in London to have a medical to complete his move from Napoli to Chelsea. 🔵 pic.twitter.com/0MlYjvDMKV
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) July 14, 2022
Koulibaly will be Chelsea’s second signing of the summer after the Blues on Wednesday announced Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling joined the club in a £47.5m deal.
The likely third signing will be to bring in Sterling’s former team-mate Nathan Ake, but the Premier League champions will only sign off on the £45m offer until a replacement has been signed.
Kalidou Koulibaly to Chelsea, here we go! Full agreement in place for €40m fee add-ons completed, bid accepted. Napoli are checking the documents then it will be official. 🚨🔵 #CFC
Koulibaly will sign long-term deal for €10m net salary per season. First centre back, signed. pic.twitter.com/Flr0XSN7wu
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 13, 2022
The summer business shows that the club’s new owners under Todd Boehly, along with Jose Feliciano and Behdad Egbahli at Clearlake Capital, are ambitious and are keen to back Thomas Tuchel in the transfer market.
The Blues felt they needed a minimum of two new central defenders this summer after losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfer to Real Madrid and Barcelona, and are actively searching for a further attacker to join the squad.
The forwards who have been sounded out include Bayern Munich’s Serge Gnabry and AC Milan’s Rafael Leao. There’s also some interest in several defenders including Sevilla’s Jules Kounde and Bayern’s Dayot Upamecano.
Koulibaly got Outstanding stats.
What a perfect Rudiger replacement. pic.twitter.com/4e3yNf2JAn
— Todd Boehly's CFC PA💦 (@mysticability) July 14, 2022
Read Also: EPL: Chelsea turn to Gnabry and Leao after missing out on Raphinha
Ahead of the summer, it was felt the Blues would spend around £200m as they aim to build a team capable of closing the gap on City and Liverpool.
The release of wantaway Romelu Lukaku on a cut-price £7m loan to his former club Inter was a sign of how much the new owners value Tuchel’s vision.
It came less than a year after Chelsea signed Lukaku for a club-record £100m under previous ownership, with the loan fee not even covering the yearly payment instalments.