Kalidou Koulibaly drops Chelsea transfer bombshell as £34m deal ‘very close’

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly believes his move to Chelsea is “on the right track” as a £34million deal is ‘very close.’

Chelsea search for new defensive reinforcements has been a bit of a slow burner since the window opened on June 10. Initially, Jules Kounde seemed primed to get his long and eagerly anticipated move to the English capital. However, Marina Granovskaia’s departure slowed that one down.

Then came Matthijs de Ligt and despite initial optimism that a big-money deal could be agreed with Juventus, it was revealed that his preference was a Bayern Munich transfer and since then, there has been no looking back as the Bavarians and the Old Lady are engrained in talks over a structure of the deal for the Dutchman.

Instead, there are two centre-halves now that are primed to be in line to replace the already gone Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen.

The first option seems to be former Blues defender Nathan Ake who is a personal favourite of manager Thomas Tuchel. football.london understands that the Blues are in advanced talks for the City defender with the fee and personal terms being discussed. City want over £50million, and a replacement lined up before giving the ‘green light.’

In terms of Rudiger’s replacement, it seems as though new owner Todd Boehly has settled on Edouard Mendy’s international teammate after learning of De Ligt’s intentions to secure his ideal Bundesliga transfer.

football.london has claimed that an agreement is close between Chelsea and Napoli in relation to a £34million deal that will see the Senegalese international sign a lucrative long-term contract in west London.

News that now looks to have been confirmed by the player himself, who says that his long-awaited exit from Italy is now approaching.

“I’ll confirm that later, but it’s on the right track,” he said on Italian radio as Journalist Romain Collet-Gaudin reported.

Philip Acquah

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