Chelsea’s new signing Kalidou Koulibaly has revealed that the former Chelsea defender initially hang up on him when he called to seek his permission to use his number 26 shirt.
The 31-year-old Senegalese international was given the number 26 shirt when he signed for Chelsea. The number 26 shirt had not been in use since John Terry retired in 2017.
Kalidou Koulibaly shared a video on social media this week where he was seen asking permission from Chelsea Legend John Terry to use his number 26 shirt.
According to Kalidou Koulibaly, the call initially did not go as planned as John Terry taught it was a prank but after he confirmed from the Chelsea Team manager he was happy to hand over the shirt to him.
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What did Kalidou Koulibaly say about his phone call to John Terry?
Speaking at his first interview as a Chelsea player, The Senegalese captain said: “At the beginning when I called him he didn’t believe that it was me, he believed that it was a joke, so he put down the phone and called the team manager to ask if it’s me.
“After I asked him very respectfully if I could take his jersey number. I know that it’s a number that’s very important for him. It’s also a very important number for me because I took it when I went to Napoli and I wanted to keep it here at Chelsea.
When he told me “yes” I was very happy because I know what he did for the club, I know what he did for the supporters, what he did for the city here. So I knew it was important to ask him first because I don’t want to be disrespectful to a legend of the club.”
He also disclosed that Gianfranco Zola gave John Terry’s number to him.
The Senegalese international added: “I wanted to know which numbers were free and speaking to the team manager he told me some numbers and he didn’t tell me the 26.
“I asked him for the 26 and he told me John left it in 2017 and nobody took it from this time. So I was a bit asking myself: “is it retired or maybe nobody wanted to take it?”
“I know Gianfranco Zola very well because we have the same person working for our business in Italy. I talked to him because he told me the story of Chelsea. I have to know everything when I go somewhere so I asked him a lot of questions about the club, about the structure, about the supporters. Then I asked him for John’s number because I wanted to ask him about the jersey.”
Kalidou Koulibaly also revealed the influence of Jorginho and Edouard Mendy in joining Chelsea.
Kalidou Koulibaly continued: “Edou is a brother for me. We talk a lot about Chelsea when we are with the national team like I talk a lot about Napoli. When he was on vacation he sent me a few messages saying to come and play with him at Chelsea and Jorginho did the same, so I had double pressure on me. But it was not bad pressure, it was friendly because I like them, they are very nice guys.
“I am used to having good moments with Jorginho at Napoli, we spent a lot of years together, win some matches together, we were used to being together every day and when he asked me to come to Chelsea I was not sure because I did not know if the owner wanted me to come or not.
“But it started with Jorginho and after Edou all the time was speaking to me and after we won the AFCON together and I had the opportunity to join him here I was really happy. In the last weeks, we were always speaking because he wanted to know if I would come or not and when I told him that I signed we were really happy because all our families can spend more time together here in London.
“And with Jorginho because I missed him a lot. When he left Napoli I lost something but now I’m here with him so I’m really happy to be with those guys and everybody on the team gave me a good welcome. So I’m really happy to be here.”
