Kalidou Koulibaly has put pen to paper in the last 24 hours, signing a five-year contract extension with Italian giants Napoli, as reported by BBC Sport.
The deal will see Koulibaly remain at the San Paolo until 2021, according to Napoli club president Aurelio Laurentiis.
The French-born Senegalese international was supposedly Antonio Conte’s number one target in the recently closed transfer window. With Napoli declining all Chelsea bids for Koulibaly, Conte was forced to splash the cash on second choice centre-back David Luiz, seeing the “Geezer” back in a Chelsea shirt for a fee of around £34m, as per BBC Sport.
Koulibaly had a stellar 15/16 Serie A campaign, with the powerful and versatile centre-back averaging 2.3 tackles, 2.7 interceptions and 3.8 clearances per game, alongside noticeable improvements in both his passing and positioning.
It has been reported that Koulibaly’s new contract contains a whopping £60m release clause. If Conte is to continue his pursuit of Koulibaly in future transfer windows, Chelsea will have to fork out a massive sum of money in order to acquire the 25-year old’s services. A move worth £60m would rank the eight largest transfer fee in history, and make Koulibaly the most expensive defender in football.
