Sport
Kalidou Koulibaly has been as big a flop for Chelsea as Romelu Lukaku was
Chelsea believed they had secured one of the transfers of the summer when they signed Kalidou Koulibaly. Not only had the Blues captured an elite level central defender, they had got the deal done for £34m at a time when a new dominant leader at the back was needed after the departure of Antonio Rudiger. That deal, however, hasn’t aged so well.
Koulibaly has struggled to find consistent form since making the move to Stamford Bridge with the Senegalese defender vulnerable in the New Year’s Day draw away to Nottingham Forest. The 31-year-old certainly hasn’t been aided by the upheaval at Chelsea since he signed, but he was meant to be someone to bring structure and steadiness.
After eight years at Napoli, the time was right for Koulibaly to embrace a new challenge. He’d been linked with some of Europe’s biggest and richest clubs over a prolonged period of time, but it was Chelsea who moved for the experienced defender as they looked to rebuild their defence at the end of last season.
He seemingly had all the attributes to be a success in the Premier League. Koulibaly is physically strong, but proved himself as more than adequate on the ball over a number of seasons playing for a Napoli team that likes to play through opponents – Koulibaly was an important part of how they started attacks from deep.
And yet those attributes haven’t been on display at Chelsea this season. Koulibaly has been prone to frequent lapses of concentration and has looked off the pace more than once – see how Nottingham Forest were able to pull the Senegalese international out of position throughout Sunday’s match at the City Ground.
It could be argued with some justification that a lack of protection in front of the Chelsea defence has left Koulibaly exposed. It’s certainly true that the Blues’ midfield is an area of concern, but Koulibaly has struggled even accounting for that. At this point, he has been as big a flop as Romelu Lukaku was as another transfer that caused excitement at the time.
“This break makes a good fresh head to everybody,” Koulibaly explained when asked how the World Cup break might help him refocus at club level for the second half of the 2022/23 season. “We went and spent time with our national team and some of us went to vacation, so I think it was a good time for everybody. Then we came back with a lot of motivation, we trained hard during those two or three weeks. We had a lot of ideas from the coach.
“We know we have a lot of work to do to come back on the top of the league. It will be difficult because everybody wants to be there. We are really motivated and we want to show everybody that the beginning of the season was just a small mistake. We have to show our level to put Chelsea where it deserves to be.”
Under Potter, Chelsea are a work-in-progress. They are expected to complete the signing of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica this month with Christopher Nkunku reportedly set to join at the end of the season. This comes after a flurry of transfer market activity last summer, of which Koulibaly was a part of.
Potter is still looking for the best system and approach to suit the players within his squad and Koulibaly is one of the performers he must find a way to harness. The Senegalese defender can still be an important part of Chelsea’s future, but he was signed to be a player for the here and now. Koulibaly hasn’t had that impact.
