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Koulibaly: ‘Why I hung up the phone on Rafa Benitez’
The solid rock centre-back joined the San Paolo hierarchy for € 7.7 million from Genk in 2014 but at the beginning he could not believe that Benitez wanted to bring him to Napoli, so much so he did not take his call seriously.
“I had been close to moving to Napoli in January, but the deal had collapsed somehow. That’s why, when Benitez called me in the summer, I did not believe that I was really talking to him and I hung up on him twice or three times. I thought it was my friends’ joke.”
“When I really arrived in Naples the world cup was on and Jose Maria Callejon and Marek Hamsik were the only players left at the training centre. I got over my shyness talking to them first and then to all the other champions that returned from the World Cup.”
Koulibaly, a long time Chelsea target, has also talked about last season’s Lazio clash that was suspended for a few minutes due to racist chants against him.
“It was annoying. Italy has a bad reputation because of these people and it’s sad to notice that someone is just coming to the stadium to attack me. At the end of the game, however, a ball-boy apologized with me saying ‘I am sorry for all that happens’.”
“I gifted him my shirt because there was innocence in his eyes and in his words.”
