Chelsea star Koulibaly slammed by Capello
FT Desk
- 6 Oct 2022 07:41 CDT
- 3 min read
Kalidou Koulibaly made a €37,7 million move from Napoli to Chelsea this summer, but former England manager Fabio Capello has been thoroughly unimpressed with the Senegalese centre-back since.
Koulibaly was signed before Thomas Tuchel was dismissed as manager, to be replaced by Graham Potter, and it looked ominous for the 31-year-old when he failed to start any of the first two games under the former Brighton head coach - a 1-1 draw with Red Bull Salzburg and a 2-1 win at Crystal Palace.
But he was thrown in against AC Milan in the Champions League on Wednesday, as part of a back three alongside Thiago Silva and Wesley Fofana, and helped his side to a clean sheet with the Blues prevailing 3-0.
If you are playing next to Kalidou #Koulibaly make sure you are in the right position. Man Utd, who are readying a huge bid for the Napoli defender, could certainly be doing with leadership like this😂pic.twitter.com/dZvifYZxE9
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) May 25, 2020
But Capello, who led Milan to four Serie A titles and the Champions League in 1994 years before taking the England job, was left cold by what he witnessed at Stamford Bridge in midweek.
"At Chelsea he has no personality," the 76-year-old lamented to Sky Italia. "When he has the ball at his feet he hesitates. He's not playing quickly; he doesn't do what he did at Napoli.
'Commanding at Napoli'
"At Napoli he commanded, he came forward, he made long passes, now he has the ball between his feet, he doesn't know who to pass it to and he always plays passes to someone only a few metres away.
"Actually, he's surprising me. I thought he had a great personality, and for Chelsea he'd be really important and explode straight away. And yet, at this moment, this isn't him."
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Koulibaly is likely to get many more minutes to prove his worth. Fofana - now the most expensive centre-back of all time after his £75m (€85.7m) arrival from Leicester - scored the opener against Milan but had to come off in the first half with a knee injury.
How long the Frenchman is out for hasn't been confirmed, but he was seen leaving the stadium on crutches.
