Napoli chief hints Koulibaly wanted to join Barcelona over Chelsea

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Current feedback on the a part of Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis level in the direction of Kalidou Koulibaly as having been eager to hyperlink up with one other of European soccer’s heavyweights this summer time, moderately than Chelsea.

Senegalese worldwide Koulibaly, in fact, sealed a transfer to Stamford Bridge earlier this month.

After the Blues got here up quick of their pursuit of Juventus standout Matthijs de Ligt, attentions swiftly turned in the direction of one other of Serie A’s giants, within the type of Napoli.

An enormous-money deal, in flip, was struck for the Partenopei’s star stopper, anticipated to fit into Thomas Tuchel’s first-choice backline with speedy impact.

Introducing our second signing of the summer time! 🔵#KoulibalyIsChelsea

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 16, 2022

As alluded to above, although, had Koulibaly been granted his want, then the skilled defender may properly have been lining out elsewhere this coming season.

Chatting with Radio Kiss Kiss on Saturday, Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis was drawn on his resolution to lastly half along with his aspect’s star stopper, after rebuffing the advances of the continent’s best for a number of years working.

And, after confirming that the deal got here to fruition owing to the need of Koulibaly himself, the Italian patron hinted that, had they been in a greater monetary place, the Senegalese would doubtless have sealed a transfer to La Liga, with Barcelona.

De Laurentiis additionally went on to disclose that he provided Koulibaly a contract value €6.5 million-per-season in a bid to persuade the 31-year-old to remain put.

Napoli president de Laurentiis to Radio Kiss Kiss: “Koulibaly needed to go away, I advised him: I can’t promote you to Barcelona as they’d no cash. Then we acquired a proposal from Chelsea, it was not possible to say no” 🔵 #CFC

“I provided €6,5m/season to Koulibaly, he needed to go”.

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 23, 2022