Chelsea have won the race to sign Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly.
The former Premier League champions have been interested in signing the defender for several months now, and have slowly been working on a deal with the Serie A club, but have come up against difficulties in Napoli president Aurelio de Laurentiis, who had even threatened to sue Chelsea.
Speaking three weeks ago, Laurentiis claimed that they had also been working on a deal with the 25-year old defender surrounding his image rights, something that would cost them millions in lost revenues aft Koulibaly had had his head turned – millions that he wanted to recoup from Chelsea.
However, according to the Sunday Mirror, the clubs have now come to a £30million agreement for the Senegal centre-back after Antonio Conte made it clear he wants to build a team around him.
Chelsea’s defence is in desperate need of a freshen up. John Terry and Gary Cahill have been the mainstays for years but are looking way past their best, as does Branislav Ivanovic who can fit in at centre-back also.