Transfer Centre

Kalidou Koulibaly expects to be playing for Napoli next season

By Daniel Lewis, Senior Reporter | 25 March 2017

Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly, the subject of a £50m Chelsea bid last summer, says that he would like to play in the Premier League at some point in his career.

Kalidou Koulibaly has admitted that he would welcome a switch to the Premier League in the future, but currently has no plans to leave Napoli.

The Senegal international was the subject of a bid from Chelsea last summer upon Antonio Conte's arrival at Stamford Bridge, thought to be in the region of £50.5m.

Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis held firm at the time and knocked back the Blues' mammoth offer, which would have made the 25-year-old the most expensive defender of all time.

Chelsea could make a fresh approach in the summer as Conte looks to further strengthen his backline, but Koulibaly does not expect to be plying his trade away from the Stadio San Paolo in 2017-18.

"It would make me happy to come and play [in England], but for now I have to go to Napoli," he told talkSPORT. "In the future you never know.

"Now I concentrate on my club and we will see next season what I have to do. I think I will stay in Napoli but you never know. I can't talk about it now. We will see."

Koulibaly, under contract with Napoli until 2021 after signing a new contract earlier this season, has made 29 appearances for the Partenopei this term.