Todd Boehly Serie A U-turn is justified by Kalidou Koulibaly’s £34m Chelsea acquisition as a guarantee, with the Blues missing out on top target.
With the help of the Hollywood setting, Kalidou Koulibaly joins Raheem Sterling as Chelsea’s second significant acquisition in the space of only a few days.
After losing Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen for free when their contracts expired this month, the Senegal international starts the reconstruction for Thomas Tuchel.
For years, there have been rumors linking Koulibaly to a transfer from Naples to the Premier League. He is also well-known among Chelsea supporters and is considered as one of the continent’s top defenders in recent years. The 31-year-old, who has a solid reputation, is brought in to strengthen Tuchel’s area of strength.
“I believe this was his final chance to realize his ambition and join the Premier League.” Siavoush Fallahi a Serie A specialist and sports journalist for Eurosport.
In the weeks preceding Chelsea’s acquisition of Koulibaly, the Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt had been mentioned in transfer rumors. Todd Boehly moved his focus to another Serie A standout since the player was nine years younger than the Napoli player, had more interest from Bayern Munich, and was apparently leaning toward Germany.
De Ligt is undoubtedly a very excellent player, and Fallahi believes that the Premier League would benefit much from having him. But I also believe that De Ligt hasn’t developed into the player that everyone expected him to be since moving to Juventus. We were discussing the upcoming dominant Dutch center-back when he departed Ajax. He was beginning with Virgil van Dijk and was an Ajax player who served as captain from a young age.
“I believe none of that occurred. In the end, I believe Ajax was the only party pleased with the decision since they made money. Juve invested a large sum of money on a player who didn’t fulfill their expectations. Koulibaly is a given; furthermore. De Ligt possesses a lot of positive traits, yet he has also committed some grave errors.”
Given the rumored price Juventus were asking for De Ligt, which was further exacerbated by Chelsea rival Bayern’s interest, the Dutch star was poised to become the most the club had ever spent for a defender if it crossed the £60 million threshold.
Koulibaly will currently hold that title at £34 million, but only by about £3 million, after the club acquired David Luiz back from PSG on the final day of the 2016 season for £31.5 million. There is anticipation that Koulibaly can replace Rudiger and fill the void left by him in the Premier League given his extensive experience and well-honed game.
