Exclusive: Chelsea star is not the same player he once was but club looking to protect him

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Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly is not the player he once was but the club are looking to protect him.

Koulibaly signed for Chelsea from Napoli during the summer transfer window and has so far struggled to adapt to life in the Premier League. There’s no doubt the Senegalese international was one of the best defenders in Europe before making the move to Chelsea, but he certainly isn’t performing at that level in England.

Now, Fabrizio Romano has spoken about the Chelsea defender and addressed rumours that he could be leaving the club in the near future, speaking to CaughtOffside via his Substack column.

Kalidou Koulibaly of Chelsea

“Kalidou Koulibaly is not the same player we saw at Napoli for many years, he was incredible in Serie A and he’s still adapting to the Premier League. I’m told Chelsea still want to protect him and he was never close to Inter or any other club in January. Let’s see in the summer.”

It’s not always a good idea to judge a player after half a season in England as it can often take a year or two for a player to adapt to life in the Premier League.

However, Koulibaly isn’t a young, inexperienced player who will be given a lot of slack. The 31-year-old was brought in to make an immediate impact and add some experience to this Chelsea side, but it hasn’t quite worked out so far.

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