‘Show some respect! Koulibaly hits out at Napoli president De Laurentiis following his comments on African players
Kalidou Koulibaly has hits out at Aurelio De Laurentiis’s intentions to need new players to pledge not to compete in the Africa Cup of Nations.
The contentious rule was put forth by De Laurentiis on Tuesday, who stated that any African player who joined the Serie A team should pledge to forgo the competition.
It will be interesting to see if he follows through on the plan and if it is legal. The Ivory Coast will host the following AFCON in January 2024.
In the competition that took place in January and February of last season, Napoli was missing Senegal defender Koulibaly and Cameroon international Andre-Franck Zambo Anguissa. Nigeria forward Victor Osimhen also missed out due to injury.
Koulibaly, who has since joined Chelsea, said De Laurentiis was inappropriate in his comments and asserted that many other club members would not agree with them.
Koulibaly told a news conference in London: “It’s up to him if he wanted to tell this, but for me the most important [thing] is to respect everybody.”
“When I played there, I was playing also for Senegal, and I won the AFCON with Senegal when I was playing with Napoli.
“It’s true that it was a difficult moment for them when we went to AFCON, but we won it and I’m really happy today.”
However, While Napoli may have struggled for numbers without their African players, their results were strong nonetheless, with Luciano Spalletti’s team taking 13 points from a possible 15 from their first five league games of the year. The only real disappointment was a Coppa Italia exit at the hands of Fiorentina in mid-January.
Koulibaly added: “You cannot speak for African national teams like this, I think. You have to have respect, like you have for other national teams.
“As captain of Senegal, I think that this is not a good way to speak about African national teams.
“But I respect what he thinks. If he thinks the team can play without African players, it’s up to him. But I think not everybody has the same idea as him at the club.
“I know that some people who are part of this society and team do not have the same idea as him. It’s not the idea of the society or the city, because the city is very respectful.”