Kalidou Koulibaly is on course to sign Chelsea but Todd Boehly might just be getting scammed
Chelsea are about to complete a mega-deal for Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly but it reeks of incompetence from their new Chelsea
Chelsea are about to complete a mega-deal for Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly but it reeks of incompetence from their new Chelsea
Chelsea are on course to complete a €40 million transfer for Napoli centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly according to multiple reports.
The Senegalese defender has been at Napoli for eight years and now appears to be leaving the club and looks set to be Chelsea’s first big signing under new management.
Koulibaly has been one of the world’s best central defenders for a while and signing him should be a big deal for Chelsea but somehow it feels like they are about to get scammed.
Signing Koulibaly is a bad idea
Chelsea landing Kalidou Koulibaly would have been a fantastic deal…two or three years ago not in 2022 and certainly not for €40 million.
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Not to be ageist or anything but Kalidou Koulibaly only recently turned 31 years old which means his best years are behind him.
That’s not necessarily an indication that he will flop at Chelsea but it does mean we have seen his best already and Koulibaly is no longer as formidable as he once was.
Many will point to Thiago Silva as justification for this deal because the Brazilian joined Chelsea as a 35-year-old and has since been the best defender at the club.
But Thiago Silva didn’t join Chelsea as a marquee signing, he was a free transfer and has recently signed his third one-year contract at the club to guarantee a third season.
Todd Boehly getting scammed
Chelsea’s new owner, Todd Boehly has been at the forefront of the club’s transfer dealings and is clearly playing a crucial role in brokering this deal with Napoli.
The entire deal has inexperience written all over it, to spend €40 million on a 31-year-old and then give him a five-year contract worth €10 million per year shows that Boehly does not know football.
The club has pretty much committed €90 million to a player past his prime who is untested in the Premier League and had even started showing signs of decline in the Serie A where he was tested and trusted.
It becomes even worse when you consider that Koulibaly had just one year left on his Napoli contract which could have given Chelsea more wiggle room to negotiate a much cheaper transfer fee.
For context, Manchester United signed Cristiano Ronaldo for just €15 million last summer from Juventus because he was old and only had one year left on his contract, the same leverage Todd Boehly squandered for Chelsea.
Even if Kalidou Koulibaly turns out to be a success for Chelsea in the next five years, it would only be justifying his massive transfer fee and wages rather than working out as a bargain.
