When Chelsea signed Kalidou Koulibaly to replace the Real Madrid bound Antonio Rudiger, it felt as though they had somehow managed to sign an even higher calibre player than that which they were losing.
However, the Senegalese defender has had a tough start to his Premier League career. Making his debut under Thomas Tuchel, the 31 year old was sent off on just his third start for the club as his side fell to a 3-0 defeat to Leeds United.
Since then, Tuchel has departed, and Brighton boss Graham Potter has been handed the reigns, with the Englishman overlooking the veteran defender for his first two games in charge.
Such a turbulent start to both Chelsea’s season and Koulibaly’s blues career has left the club in 6th place, already 10 points behind top of the league Arsenal, who they meet on Sunday.
However, despite this gap, Koulibaly still backs his side to be champions at the end of the season. When asked about how he felt about the Gunners leading the way, he told Italian media: “It will be Chelsea at the end of the season, I want to write history here.”
He then went on to touch on the difficulties he has faced thus far in a Chelsea shirt, pointing out the managerial upheaval and the system changes as contributing factors to his slow start.
He even revealed that he had been warned to expect a tough start by none other than Chelsea heroes Didier Drogba and Gianfranco Zola, who he spoke to ahead of completing the switch from Napoli.
“I knew I was going to have a hard time, and that’s proved true. Even Zola and Drogba had anticipated that for me”, he revealed.
At 31 years old, Koulibaly will have to learn fast in a team that has ambitions of continued silverware even under new ownership. With Wesley Fofana sidelined, however, he has a chance to nail down a first team spot at Stamford Bridge ahead of the World Cup.
