A household name to regular viewers of Serie A and simply known as ‘K2’ by the Napoli support, 25 year old Senegalese centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly is widely regarded as one of the finest defenders in Italy; his consistent and dominant displays at the heart of the Partenopei defence gaining him plaudits and admirers in equal measure.

 

It’s no secret that Chelsea boss, Antonio Conte remains interested in Koulibaly with the player being subject to a rather drawn out and public transfer wrangle last summer which prompted sections of the Chelsea support to take to social media using the hashtag ‘#FreeKoulibaly.’ In fact, it became so widespread that Napoli’s official Twitter account couldn't even announce their weekly starting line-up without being subjected to numerous tweets quoting the aforementioned hashtag. 

 

Unfortunately for the Napoli support it looks like history could repeat itself this summer, with Koulibaly’s agent releasing contradictory statements that one week say his client could go, only to later say his client is content in Naples and will remain with the club next season. It’s a situation that Napoi fans, to their credit, have come to expect and handle every summer as the Premier League looks to cherry-pick from Serie A at the first sign of an emerging talent - just look at how, all of a sudden, reporters of a Premier League persuasion are gushing over Juventus’ Paulo Dybala and his performance against Barcelona; a player followers of Serie A have known was special since his days at Palermo.

 

For Koulibaly however, it’s a phenomenal tale of commitment, work ethtic, and talent combining to produce one of the best young centre-backs in world football; a commodity that’s becoming rarer in the modern, attack minded game. Some bemoan the price paid for defenders these days, yet one only has to look at the £50m Manchester City paid Everton for John Stones to see that the big clubs are willing to pay top dollar for defenders with even a hint of talent; especially centre-backs.

 

Koulibaly began his professional career with Ligue 2 side Metz in 2010, where he would stay for two seasons. In an impressive debut campaign he made 19 league appearances (16 starts and 3 as a substitute) while scoring a single goal. His second and final season with Metz saw Koulibaly cement his position as one of the club’s first choice centre backs, starting 21 league games and coming on from the bench just once. However, injury would see Koulibaly miss 7 league games, yet this didn't deter Belgian side Genk who, in the summer of 2012, paid just £1.1m to secure his services on a four-year deal; a move which would offer the fledgling Koulibaly both top flight and European football.

 

And it would be on the European stage where Koulibaly would make his Genk debut, in the qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League against Swiss side, Luzern who would win the first leg by two goals to one. Just a week later however, in front of his new support, Koulibaly would help Genk keep a clean sheet as a two nil win was enough to oversee the first leg deficit and send Genk into the group stage where they would face another Swiss side in the form of FC Basel, Hungarians Videoton FC, and Portuguese giants Sporting Lisbon.

 

In his debut season in Belgium, Koulibaly would be a near ever present for Genk, making 46 appearances in all competitions as they finished 3rd in the Jupiler Pro League, lifted the Beker Van Belgie (Belgian Cup) with a 2-0 defeat of Cercle Brugge, and won Group G of the Europa League with 3 points to spare before going out to Stuttgart in the Round of 32. 

 

Koulibaly would go on to amass the same amount of appearances the following season with 46, yet it was ultimately a far less successful season than the first as Genk finished 6th in the Jupiler Pro, lost the Belgian Supercup to Anderlecht, and went out of the Beker Van Belgie on penalties to KV Oostende at the Quarter Final stage. The Europea League once again gave Koulibaly the chance to shine on a larger stage as Genk were again drawn in Group G, this time alongside Dynamo Kyiv, FC Thun, and Rapid Vienna.

As with the previous campaign, the group was won easily, this time with 4 points to spare; conceding just 5 goals without losing a game. Sadly, as with the year before, the next stage would be a hurdle too far for the Belgians as Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala comfortably seen Genk off two nil on aggregate.

 

Yet, just as was the case at Metz, Koulibaly’s stay would only last two seasons as SSC Napoli, his current employers, swooped to take the defender to the San Paolo on a five-year contract in a deal worth £6.5m; some six times what Genk had paid for him. Replacing Miguel Britos beside Raul Albiol at the heart of defence, Koulibaly has thus far played 113 times for Napoli in all competitions, scoring five times, and is now arguably Napoli’s number one defender.

 

As things stand, Koulibaly is currently in his third season in Naples which is the longest he has spent in one place so far in his career. The player himself, by all accounts, remains happy with life in Naples despite his agent continually touting of his client to the Premier League and, with Raul Albiol looking likely to return to Spain this summer and the departure of the increasingly out-of-form Faouzi Ghoulam all but certain, Napoli can ill afford to lose three of their four first choice defenders.

 

Napoli have done fantastic this season in dealing with the sale of Gonzalo Higuain and the loss of his replacement, Arkaduisz Milik to injury yet the silver lining this year has been that Napoli look more of a team than ever before, playing a style of football that is lauded across Europe and which indicates that a real project is underway at the San Paolo.

 

If Koulibaly were to stay for a fourth season in Naples, he will likely be joined by a new central defensive partner and a new left back as the club look to Atalanta’s Andrea Conti and Benfica’s Alex Grimaldo as potential replacements for the outgoing Ghoulam. A new goalkeeper is also high on the agenda, especially amongst large sections of the Napoli support who have grown particularly weary of Pepe Reina’s inconsistency and Mattia Perin, should he recover from a second ACL tear, is many fans’ favourite to form part of Napoli’s new look spine for the 2017/18 season.

 

However, the harsh truth is that the longer Napoli go without genuinely challenging Juventus for the Scudetto, the increasingly difficult it becomes to retain these young, hungry players who want success; especially with the well-oiled PR machine that is the Premier League continually showing an interest.

 

Whatever De Laurentiis has planned for next season, and as much as we read about the drawn out Lorenzo Insigne situation, K2 is the rock upon which Napoli’s renewed Scudetto assault must be built on.





James McGhie