Kalidou Koulibaly | Chelsea

kaku06

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As been mentioned so many times, be very cautious in signing Serie a top players. So many examples yet some people still fall for it. That league is a trap. Not saying everyone is overrated but the probability is so much higher regarding the quality of player in that league. Felipe Anderson looks like a player again, Immobile is elite there. Don’t get me wrong, I like Serie a for many reasons but judging a player’s quality playing in that league is certainly not one of them.
 

TheMagicFoolBus

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Dunno what's happened to him in 1v1 situations. He used to be top tier even as recently as last year; this year he's managed to be both extremely reckless rushing out and has also displayed Gary Cahill-itis by dropping back ludicrously.

No sugar-coating that he's been a disastrous signing. Hopefully Badiashile is a better fit - since Rudiger left we've lacked a left sided CB who can cover the wide areas. Koulibaly has been atrocious when moving wide.
 

cyberman

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Nah. £100 million for Antony looks much worse. Philips to City looking bad too. £30 million for Koulibaly isn’t that bad. I think he was okay under Tuchel. I remember him having a good game against Spurs. I don’t think Koulibaly had much help from Azpi and was often isolated against Forest’s winger.
How is Antony worse? He’s playing exactly how he did at Ajax and exactly why Ten Hag bought him
 

TheRedHearted

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As been mentioned so many times, be very cautious in signing Serie a top players. So many examples yet some people still fall for it. That league is a trap. Not saying everyone is overrated but the probability is so much higher regarding the quality of player in that league. Felipe Anderson looks like a player again, Immobile is elite there. Don’t get me wrong, I like Serie a for many reasons but judging a player’s quality playing in that league is certainly not one of them.
30 million- we spent a lot more on defenders over the last bunch of years, no?
 

RunTheTrap

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How is Antony worse? He’s playing exactly how he did at Ajax and exactly why Ten Hag bought him
He’s widely overpriced. It’s early days but Antony looks like he can’t do the minimum that a top level PL winger should be able to do. I don’t think Ten Hag is happy with what he is getting from Antony right now.
 

Lay

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As been mentioned so many times, be very cautious in signing Serie a top players. So many examples yet some people still fall for it. That league is a trap. Not saying everyone is overrated but the probability is so much higher regarding the quality of player in that league. Felipe Anderson looks like a player again, Immobile is elite there. Don’t get me wrong, I like Serie a for many reasons but judging a player’s quality playing in that league is certainly not one of them.
I think it’s wise to remember his form in the AFCON was the last time he played well. Before that the decline was evident and should have been sold by Napoli sooner. Kim has come in and no one even remembers Koulibaly anymore
 

TheReligion

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Nah. £100 million for Antony looks much worse. Philips to City looking bad too. £30 million for Koulibaly isn’t that bad. I think he was okay under Tuchel. I remember him having a good game against Spurs. I don’t think Koulibaly had much help from Azpi and was often isolated against Forest’s winger.
I can’t take you seriously when you don’t even know the correct transfer fees
 

charlenefan

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Nah. £100 million for Antony looks much worse. Philips to City looking bad too. £30 million for Koulibaly isn’t that bad. I think he was okay under Tuchel. I remember him having a good game against Spurs. I don’t think Koulibaly had much help from Azpi and was often isolated against Forest’s winger.
For starters Antony didn't cost 100m, secondly the kids 22 even if he ends up being a flop there's still plenty of money to be recouped on him and thirdly he's actually done ok given the disruptive start to his career

Arsenal fan just trolling, nothing to see here
 

cesc's_mullet

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He looks cooked.

The end comes quick for some, though I suspect he's just not fit enough at the moment. Maybe he'll come back better next season.

Chelsea will need his experience next season if Silva retires and they end up using three young CB's in Fofana, Badshiate and Chalobah.
 

bond19821982

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Nah. £100 million for Antony looks much worse. Philips to City looking bad too. £30 million for Koulibaly isn’t that bad. I think he was okay under Tuchel. I remember him having a good game against Spurs. I don’t think Koulibaly had much help from Azpi and was often isolated against Forest’s winger.
So, you would increase the cost of a united player and decrease the cost of Chelsea player ?
Then you "think" KK was okay under Tuchel ?

Always thankful for this newbie system.
 

RunTheTrap

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So, you would increase the cost of a united player and decrease the cost of Chelsea player ?
Then you "think" KK was okay under Tuchel ?

Always thankful for this newbie system.
The valuations doesn’t matter. The point I’m making is that in my opinion, Antony looks like a worse buy than Koulibaly.
 

RunTheTrap

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For starters Antony didn't cost 100m, secondly the kids 22 even if he ends up being a flop there's still plenty of money to be recouped on him and thirdly he's actually done ok given the disruptive start to his career

Arsenal fan just trolling, nothing to see here
I’m not trolling. I haven’t said anything controversial. I made a honest mistake with the valuations.
 

bringbackbebe

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Dunno what's happened to him in 1v1 situations. He used to be top tier even as recently as last year; this year he's managed to be both extremely reckless rushing out and has also displayed Gary Cahill-itis by dropping back ludicrously.

No sugar-coating that he's been a disastrous signing. Hopefully Badiashile is a better fit - since Rudiger left we've lacked a left sided CB who can cover the wide areas. Koulibaly has been atrocious when moving wide.
His pace is ok, but seems to lack the positional awareness as well as the judgement on when to engage the opponent. Not sure if it's the tempo of the premier league he's failing to adapt to or if it's Chelsea's system of play? You can't make it as a top defender without these skills and neither can you teach them at the age 31.

Chelsea splurged 175m on Koulibaly, Fofana and Cucurella and now need to rebuild the defence again half year later - Silva is 38, Azpelicuta is 33. Reminds me of what we used to do under Woody. Looks really shaky.
 

Shinjch

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We were told he would be an upgrade on Rudiger.... They have a problem with him now, as time is of the essence with him condiering his age and contract. He needs to get a lot better and quickly.
 

Pexbo

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The valuations doesn’t matter. The point I’m making is that in my opinion, Antony looks like a worse buy than Koulibaly.
The difference is Antony is 22 and has plenty of time to settle in, find his feet and improve. Koulibaly is 31 and shows no sign of adjusting to the pace.
 

Dancfc

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The difference is Antony is 22 and has plenty of time to settle in, find his feet and improve. Koulibaly is 31 and shows no sign of adjusting to the pace.
I haven't got enough of an opinion of Antony either way but I remember similar arguments were made for Lukaku around that age when I dismissed him as a potential elite player. Maybe he's making a similar argument for Antony in that 22 or not he just doesn't think he has fundamentals required?

That said Koulibaly is a bust, I actually have hope for most of the summer signings but him and Auba are done.
 

WeePat

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He's so bad. I have honestly not seen a signing this disastrous since .... well last season with Lukaku.
 

Fortitude

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He looks about 20lb oversized for football. Heavy, clumsy, ponderous and far too overzealous - like he’s in the NFL or rugby.
 

V.O.

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Funny how Chelsea's big powerful proper centre half has been a load of shite and Man Utd's midget from the Dutch league who will never be a PL centre back has been class.

Yet the same pundits will trot out the same hot takes again next time. :lol:
 

Gio

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He was tremendous 4/5 years ago. In the years 2016-2020 he was widely considered the best defender in Serie A. But there were no guarantees he was going to be a Nesta or a Thiago Silva (players capable of staying that good deep into their mid thirties). Napoli didn’t want to sell him cheap back then. But I’d rather have overspent money on him back then than on any of the bums we kept recruiting.
Aye, he's obviously past his best. He'd already showed signs of dropping off his top level around 2020 where his performances in Serie A were similar to what we're seeing now. And although he bounced back somewhat up to and around the African Nations triumph in 2021, I don't think he's quite the same calibre of player he was earlier in his career.
 

Lentwood

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Once again, a player large sections of this forum derided us for not signing turns out to be average at best.

These types of signing are never the answer. I don't need to watch hundreds of hours of Koulibaly play to know he's not elite/world-class because of the simple fact that he wouldn't be at Napoli in his late 20s if he were
 

WeePat

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Haven't watched Chelsea much this year but has he really been that bad?
Put it this way, he has no business keeping Chalobah out of the team, who is miles better than him. I'd probably start even Bashir Humphreys ahead of him and he's just a teenager fresh out of the academy.
 

TsuWave

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I don't need to watch hundreds of hours of Koulibaly play to know he's not elite/world-class because of the simple fact that he wouldn't be at Napoli in his late 20s if he were
This is such a poor argument. Crazy.
 

weetee

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I remember he was the sh!t not that long ago and only completely priced out of a move. I remember very concrete wishes in a Bayern Munich forum with him being kind of the prime solution but not available - and that were multiple posters. Haven't followed Napoli but my impression was that he was quite the beast defensively so pretty surprised he makes that many errors.
 

VorZakone

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Once again, a player large sections of this forum derided us for not signing turns out to be average at best.

These types of signing are never the answer. I don't need to watch hundreds of hours of Koulibaly play to know he's not elite/world-class because of the simple fact that he wouldn't be at Napoli in his late 20s if he were
Drogba was 26 when he moved to Chelsea FYI.
 

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I remember he was the sh!t not that long ago and only completely priced out of a move. I remember very concrete wishes in a Bayern Munich forum with him being kind of the prime solution but not available - and that were multiple posters. Haven't followed Napoli but my impression was that he was quite the beast defensively so pretty surprised he makes that many errors.
the errors he makes now he was also prone to at Napoli. You just discover his clumpsiness more in a league with more pace and pressure week in week out
 

weetee

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the errors he makes now he was also prone to at Napoli. You just discover his clumpsiness more in a league with more pace and pressure week in week out
Not disputing that. Never really saw him with my own eyes but I know for a fact that plenty people over a long time saw him as an absolute elite defender so there must have been something about him at least.