Carlo Ancelotti paid Kalidou Koulibaly the ultimate compliment when he said the Senegalese is one of the best he's ever worked with.
"Kalidou Koulibaly is one of the best I've ever coached, along with the likes of Maldini, Nesta, Cannavaro, Ramos, Thuram and Terry," the 59-year old said.
"At this moment I think Koulibaly is one of the best in the world."
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Very high praise from a guy who has coached so many incredible centre-backs, but Koulibaly is well and truly proving his worth for Napoli.
And last night, he showed that he's much more than a defensive-minded player who reads the game brilliantly when he record an outrageous assist for Lorenzo Insigne's opening goal in the 5-1 thrashing of Empoli last night.
Always wanting to be aggressive and play on the front foot, the 27-year old was quick to intercept a loose pass and instead of moving the ball on, took matters into his own hands by storming up the left flank.
Most central defenders would normally get a nose bleed being that far up the pitch but Koulibaly completed his surge by cutting back for Insigne, who took one touch and then fired home.
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It was a phenomenal passage of play from Koulibaly but it was anything but a fluke - given his thumping 25-yard strike in training a couple of days before the game.
Chelsea and Manchester United have both been heavily linked with the former Genk defender, who was the subject of a โฌ100 million bid from a Premier League club in the summer - according to Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis.
However, having seen the unique way he got his left-back to move closer to Kylian Mbappe a couple of weeks back, he's probably worth โฌ200 million now.
Topics:ย Football News, Football, Napoli, Kalidou Koulibaly