Chelsea’s Koulibaly tells Napoli owner to show respect over AFCON comments

After Aurelio De Laurentiis, owner of Napoli, said that his club would not sign African players unless they skip the AFCON tournament, Napoli’s former Senegalese defender Kalidou Koulibaly said that Laurentiis ought to show more respect to African teams

Chelsea’s new signing Kalidou Koulibaly said Aurelio De Laurentiis, the owner of his former club Napoli, should respect African teams as much as other national sides in the wake of his comments about the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

De Laurentiis said on Tuesday that he would no longer sign African players unless they agreed to skip the AFCON tournament as its mid-season scheduling deprived Napoli of players.

Koulibaly, who spent eight seasons at Napoli before joining Chelsea, and captained Senegal to AFCON victory while playing for the Serie A club, said the majority of supporters did not share De Laurentiis's opinion.

"For me, the most important thing is to respect everybody," Koulibaly told reporters on Wednesday. "You cannot speak about an African national team like this. You have to have respect as you have for the other national teams.

"I think not everyone in the club has the same idea as him. I know everybody over there, I know the supporters, and the supporters don't think like this."

In a separate interview published on Wednesday, the 31-year-old said De Laurentiis did not allow him to leave Napoli in 2015 when Chelsea made an earlier attempt to sign him.

"I asked respectfully to the owner that I wanted to leave for Chelsea but he told me that it wouldn't be possible," Koulibaly told the Guardian.