Napoli defender Koulibaly confirms Sarri to Chelsea

Bengaluru, June 21: Napoli and Senegal star man Kalidou Koulibaly appeared to confirm Maurizio Sarri is taking over at Chelsea after he hoped the Italian will be given time to work his magic at Stamford Bridge.

The Blues are close to landing Sarri as their new boss with club legend Gianfranco Zola lined up as his assistant. However, Roman Abramovich has a poor track record of impatience with managers if they do not provide speedy success.

Koulibaly worked under Sarri at Napoli for the past three years and reckons the 59-year-old could revolutionise the style of play at Stamford Bridge if he is given time.

The Senegal star defender said: “(Chelsea fans) can expect nice football because he is a very good coach.

“I’m disappointed that he leaves like this but we have now a big coach (in Carlo Ancelotti). We know we can win something with him.

“I hope he will win something with Chelsea because he’s a nice coach.

“When a coach like this comes he needs time. So I think they have to give him time because he will change the football of Chelsea, I think.

“At Napoli we enjoyed it very much as players and the supporters enjoyed it very much. At Chelsea I think it will be the same.”

Koulibaly has been linked to a host of top European clubs in recent years including Chelsea and following his comments on Sarri, we might see an early reunion between the two.

The commanding centre-back showed just why there is so much interest in him with an accomplished display in Senegal’s 2-1 win over Poland on Tuesday.

The victory for the Lions of Teranga was the first time an African side did not lose, let alone win, in Russia this summer.

The defender hopes it can help kick on the other nations from the world’s biggest continent.

Speaking to talkSPORT, Koulibaly added: “It was an important win. We know Poland are a nice team. The most important thing is to start good in the competition and we did it.

“It’s a difficult group but we know we can make it (through).

“We saw the first games of the African team and saw that they didn’t win.

“It was disappointing but now we are happy that we’ve won this game because they are supporters like us, we support them.

“I hope that it’s a big step forward for all the African teams.”