Considering that Antonio Conte has always been very involved with his club’s transfer moves, it’s not surprising to see Chelsea being linked to more players since the Euro ended. Right after Kante’s signing was made official; the pursuit of a starting caliber central defender has become more of a priority for the Blues.
Chelsea’s efforts to improve the defense however go back to even before Italy was eliminated by Germany, considering Conte’s background it’s not surprising that his new club has been was mainly linked to defenders currently in Serie A- starting with Roma’s starting duo of Manolas and Rudiger.
The pursuit of Manolas was always going to be complicated because of a clause in his contract. If the Greek defender is sold this summer, his former club Olympiacos would receive half of his transfer fee rather than just the €6 million Roma owes them for the second half to his rights- if that wasn’t enough, Rudiger tore his ACL while training with Germany’s national which gave Roma even more reason to want to keep their other starting center back.
Chelsea was then briefly linked to Angelo Ogbonna , a player that Conte had at Juve and that he also decided to bring to the Euro. More recently the Blues are after to two other Serie A defenders Nikola Maksimovic and Kalidou Koulibaly- and this is where it gets interesting.
Koulibaly’s current team Napoli is also interested in Maksimovic as a potential replacement for the Senegalese center back- so there is clearly the potential for a domino effect. The last wrinkle is Maksimovic’s current team Torino recently sold their other top tier center back Kamil Glik to Monaco in one of the best value deals of summer (I’m personally surprised that Premier League teams didn’t pursue him).
Koulibaly is Conte’s top choice- and anyone who followed Serie A closely last season understands why. The Senegalese defender was arguably the most improved player in Italy last season, he benefitted tremendously from having new coach Maurizio Sarri mentoring him. Koulibaly went so far as stating that when Benitez coached Napoli the practices weren’t very focused on the defensive aspect, something that really changed under Sarri.
Koulibaly just entered his prime after turning 25 last June; he’s a physical monster at 1.95 and improved his passing and positioning under Sarri. After Higuain, he was arguably Napoli’s most important player last season- and now he wants to be paid like it. Not surprisingly Napoli was more open to granting his wish after Juventus’ exercised, but they still aren’t close on reaching an agreement.
Chelsea has made a bid of this week of around €45 million which is giving Napoli an incentive to find a potential replacement. The partenopei have already acquired another center back at the beginning of the transfer- the very underrated Lorenzo Tonelli whom Sarri coached at Empoli, but they need another starting caliber one should Koulibaly leave now that they’re back in the CL.
Napoli’s top target if Nikola Maksimovic, whom I would describe as a poor man’s Bonucci (and I mean that as a very big compliment). Makismovic battled injuries last season at Torino, but is still considered one of the best passing center backs in Italy. But it won’t be easy to get him to leave Torino, whom as previously mentioned already lost Glik- his current club is trying to give him an extension.
Maksimovic was known as the next Vidic in his native Serbia, and in an interesting twist of fate was linked to Manchester United before they signed Bailly. Now Conte has identified him as a backup plan to Koulibaly, and his passing ability would give him the option of using a 3 center back defense at Chelsea (Conte used a four man defense prior to having Bonucci at Juve, so he isn’t married to the 3 5 2).
So what could happen in the next few weeks? Despite Napoli’s recent attempts to give him an extension, Koulibaly prefers to leave and other than Chelsea he was also previously linked to Everton. It would be a lot easier for Napoli to sell him if they find a replacement- if Maksimovic becomes too problematic , they could look elsewhere but at least are flush with cash after the Higuain sale.
What is certain is that Conte is determined to find a new center back and Koulibaly is his top target.
