Chelsea announce Koulibaly and Hutchinson

Chelsea have announced two new arrivals to Stamford Bridge with the arrival of Kalidou Koulibaly and Omar Hutchinson.

Central defender Koulibaly arrives at the club from Napoli on a four-year contract in a deal believed to be worth £33m. The 31-year-old played 317 times for the Italian club and has represented his country Senegal 61 times.

Speaking on the club website, Koulibaly said: “I’m very happy to be here with this team at Chelsea. It’s a big team in the world and my dream was always to play in the Premier League. Chelsea came first to get me in 2016 but we didn’t make it. Now when they came to me I accepted it because they really wanted me to come to the Premier League to play for them. When I spoke to my good friends Edou [Mendy] and Jorginho they made my choice easier so I’m really happy to be with you today.

“I want to thank the fans because I saw a lot of them in London and on the plane everybody was happy for me to be here. So I want to thank them and I hope the season will be really good and we will give some good moments to the fans.”

Looking more to the future, the highly-rated Omar Hutchinson has arrived at the club from Arsenal on a free transfer.

The 18-year-old forward, who primarily operates on the right wing, is said to have left the club due to the competition for places although he may have to bide his time at Chelsea before making his way into the first team.

“We are delighted that Omari has agreed to sign for Chelsea,” said Chelsea’s head of youth recruitment, Jim Fraser. “He is a brilliant addition who joins us as an exciting emerging talent hoping to make a quick impression in the senior game.”

Another one. 👌 #KoulibalyIsChelsea pic.twitter.com/fcexST5KSy

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) July 16, 2022