The Senegalese international joined Chelsea from Napoli in the summer for £35 million for four years.
Kalidou Koulibaly had enjoyed a roller-coaster ride in his early life at Chelsea. Form scoring against Tottenham and being sent off in Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat to Leeds United.
The 31-year-old is yet to establish himself as one of the key players under new Chelsea manager Graham Potter. The Senegalese international has missed Chelsea’s last three matches due to injury. He is expected to return against Dinamo Zagreb in the Champions League.
However, Kalidou Koulibaly had revealed that Legendary Chelsea duo Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba told him he would struggle initially at Chelsea.
What did Kalidou Koulibaly say?
In an interview with Corriere della Sera, The 31-year-old said: “The beauty of football is also this, I arrive with a coach who wanted me at all costs, and then he leaves.
“Both Tuchel and Potter play with the three-man defense. At Napoli, I was used to playing with a four-man backline. It’s another arrow that I put in my bow, you never stop learning.
“I knew I was going to have a hard time, and it has been this way. Even Zola, Drogba had anticipated it would be and told me.”
Kalidou Koulibaly added that despite his initial struggles at Chelsea, he has not regretted his decision to leave Napoli after 8 years.
“I believe in destiny. My period was over, I had given everything. From the point of view of emotions, it changes little. I feel every goal, and every victory as if I lived them firsthand.
“This Naples is my Naples. I am happy to have contributed to the growth of the team. Do you know what I’m talking about in the Chelsea locker room? Of the victories of my former teammates. And do you know why? I’m proud of it. I often hear Anguissa, Osimhen. I have also exchanged messages with Kvara, whom I don’t know yet.”
Meanwhile, Graham Potter has revealed that Chelsea has learned from their defeat to Brighton.
He said: “It’s been a process since the game, to be honest. It’s one of those things you have to deal with. It’s never nice to lose and the manner in that we did was not pleasant. I think we got caught up with the atmosphere.
“I think they came out of the blocks very fast, we didn’t do that. Before we can talk about anything from a tactical perspective, we’re 2-0 down and then the environment is completely positive for the home team and not for us.
“We had a big chance to make it 2-1 and then the game became a little bit more open than we would like. Their goalie makes another good save but in the end, we didn’t do well enough to get the points. We scored at the start of the second half, and at that point pushed and pushed for a little bit, if we’d scored maybe it would have been interesting.
“As the game went into the last bits as we were pushing to get a goal, too much probably, it opens us up and the fourth one is disappointing and the scoreline is what it is. Overall we have to learn from the game and we have to be better.”
