Chelsea have turned to Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly in their search for a new central defender.
The Senegal international has 12 months left on his contract with no agreement over a new deal with his club.It means Napoli have to sell this summer with 31-year-old Koulibaly interested in a £40million move to Stamford Bridge and his representatives sounding out potential suitors.
Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel is most keen on Juventus centre-back Matthijs De Ligt but has so far been scared off by his £102million. Inter Milan’s 27-year-old Slovak international, Milan Škriniar, would also cost upwards of £55million
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Chelsea are focusing on repairing their defence after the departures of Antonio Rudiger to Real Madrid and Andreas Christensen to Barcelona - both on free transfers. The club are confident they have already agreed a £55million deal to land 27-year-old Raheem Sterling from Manchester City.
Sterling has just one year left on his contract and, following talks with Tuchel, is keen to become part of the Todd Boelhy revolution. Leeds winger Raphina is expected to join Sterling London with talks over a transfer to Chelsea at an advanced stage.
The Brazilian forward had had his heart set on a move to Barcelona, then Arsenal when the Spanish giants could not afford his £60million price tag. But Chelsea moved in to gazump them both on Tuesday with the Blues set to sell Christian Pulisic and Hakim Ziyech to finance the deals.
