It appears that Chelsea are moving a bit more concretely to try and sign Kalidou Koulibaly and fill the gaps left by the departures of Antonio Rüdiger and Andreas Christensen.
We covered an article earlier on Wednesday explaining that the Blues were still in the running to sign the Senegal international, despite Napoli being ready to break their salary cap to keep him around with a new contract.
With few other alternatives, it seemed to be a battle between the Serie A side and Chelsea, which former agent Enrico Fedele, speaking to Radio Marte, relayed by CalcioNapoli24, believes is in the favour of the Stamford Bridge side.
He said: “Chelsea have increased their first offer, but I’m amazed that people are surprised. Why do people think the footballer should accept Napoli’s €5m and not Chelsea’s €7-8m?”
That suggests the Blues are pushing to get a deal done, at least with the player, probably knowing full well that once they have an agreement with Koulibaly, dealing with Napoli should be fairly straightforward.
Despite Aurelio De Laurentiis normally being a tough nut to crack in negotiations, the defender only has one year left on his contract in Naples, meaning that if he starts pushing for an exit, it will be the last real chance for the club to make any real money from a sale.
Therefore, it makes sense for Chelsea to sort out a contract with Koulibaly first before engaging real talks with their Italian counterparts, even if that isn’t technically the order such matters should be done in.
