In part four of our ‘nearly players’ segment, we have another defender, and this one is frustrating.
Kalidou Koulibaly was linked with moves away from Napoli every summer window for the last 4 years and it was only the summer just gone that he finally ended his time with Napoli by signing for Chelsea in a fee thought to be around £33M [SkySports].
When John Stones left for Manchester City in 2016 we needed a centre-back and Koulibaly was on the list as a possible replacement. With Ronald Koeman and Steve Walsh given a blank chequebook from Farhad Moshiri, it was a summer full of excitement to see who we would sign.
Everton did bid for the Senegalese defender which was rejected as Napoli asked for £60M, Moshiri after speaking with Walsh thought he could get better elsewhere for cheaper even though it was believed Moshiri was more than happy to spend the £60M Napoli asked for as he said the following in an interview in November of 2016
“What is £47.5m? We tried to buy Koulibaly and they wanted £60m. It’s monopoly money, it doesn’t mean anything.” – DailyMirror
Walsh’s better and cheaper option cost £11M in the name of Ashley Williams.
I know. Ashley Williams, what a disaster of a signing he was, and when you think we could have signed Koulibaly who is 7 years younger than the former Wales international, it really makes you question why Steve Walsh, a glorified scout was given the freedom to spend what he wanted. Just because he found N’Golo Kante, Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez for Leicester as a scout did not give him the right to have free rein. He was and we are still feeling the effects of his poor recruitment as we released most of his signings in the summer just gone.
In the years after Koeman, during Carlo Ancelotti and Rafa Benitez, Koulibaly was linked with a move to Everton two summers in succession, having worked under both of them during their time at Napoli, but nothing happened and it was this summer he finally got his move to the Premier League where he joined Chelsea.