Chelsea are confident of completing a deal for Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly despite having a recent bid of £42 million rejected.
The 25-year-old remains the Blues preference in strengthening their central defensive options this summer and are prepared to offer him a five-year deal in excess of £60,000-a-week, according to the Evening Standard.
Koulibaly, according to the newspaper, has told his current employers that he’s not interested in renewing his contract which expires in 2019 instead keen to link up with Conte at Stamford Bridge.
Napoli are determined to keep hold of the Senegal international insisting they will not listen to any offer for his services, the Evening Standard reports.
Since arriving from Belgian club Genk in the summer of 2014 he’s made a total of 92 senior appearances for the Italians scoring three goals whilst creating five more.
Though it’s not stopped them from looking for defensive reinforcements themselves, the Neapolitans themselves had a bid of £21m rejected for Torino defender Nikola Maksimovic.
At the moment Conte has club stalwart John Terry, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic available to play at centre-back ahead of their Premier League opener at home to West Ham on August 15.
Kurt Zouma is close to returning from a serious knee injury whilst Michael Hector is hoping to get a look in.
Chelsea, who’ve identified Victor Lindelof of Benfica as an alternative, will nonetheless continue pursuing Koulibaly with the feeling it could take more than £50m to bring him to west London.
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