Official: Kalidou Koulibaly Signs With Napoli
The worst kept secret in Italian football is no longer a secret, and Napoli have officially finished their first signing of the summer.
By Conor Dowley@c_dowley Jul 1, 2014, 8:05pm CEST
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Valerio Pennicino
The transfer window is open and it's finally official: a month after the signing was rumored to be completed, Kalidou Koulibaly has signed with Napoli.
The 23 year old French center back signed from KRC Genk in Belgium for a reported €8 million, giving Napoli a young and talented project to work in to their central defense rotation.
As a young defender, Koulibaly has certainly had his ups and downs in his career so far, but his two seasons with Genk were more good than bad, and he performed well in Genk's Europa League ties against European competition. He's tall (6'5"/1.95m) and provides a physical, athletic presence that Napoli have lacked in the middle. His quality in the air should help with set pieces, as both Raul Albiol and Federico Fernandez are only adequate in that arena.
The price is perhaps a little high for someone as unproven as Koulibaly, but it's still a signing worth making, especially with Napoli's need for a more physical defender to help with certain matchups they struggled with last season.
The club also announced contract renewals for Giandomenico Mesto and Roberto Colombo. Colombo's deal was due to expire yesterday, and Mesto's at the end of this season. Colombo is essentially a mascot for Napoli at this stage, but Mesto provides a decent depth option at a couple different spots. As neither are on terribly high wages, these are moves that are easy to accept and move on. .
So all in all, it was a good start to Napoli's transfer window. Let's have more success please. And by success, I mean "don't sell Gonzalo Higuain unless Barca offer stupid crazy money".