Koulibaly: Terry hung up on me ...he thought I was a prankster!

KALIDOU KOULIBALY revealed a disbelieving John Terry initially hung up on him when he called the Chelsea legend for permission to inherit his old shirt number. The No 26 has significance to £34million summer signing Koulibaly as well as Terry, with it being his old Napoli number but also the Senegal captain and his wife Charline Oudenot being born on the same day — June 20 — in the same hospital in France. The video of a nervous Koulibaly asking Terry if he could take the shirt that had been unoccupied since the latter’s 2017 departure surfaced on social media this week. He said: ‘In the beginning, he didn’t believe it was me. He thought it was a joke so he put down the phone and called the team manager to ask if it was really me.

‘When he told me yes, I was really happy because I know what he did for the club, the supporters and the city here.

‘I was happy and I wanted to tell everybody that I asked him before because I don’t want to be disrespectful to a legend of the club.’

Had things unfolded differently, Koulibaly, 31, and Terry could have been Chelsea team-mates some years ago when Antonio Conte was the manager at Stamford Bridge.

‘I spoke with Antonio in Rome, he wanted me after my first good year in Napoli,’ Koulibaly said. ‘I had three or four years left on my contract with Napoli and I don’t like to fight with my owner or supporters to leave.

‘I asked respectfully to the owner that I wanted to leave for Chelsea but he told me that it wouldn’t be possible.’

Such are the links between Koulibaly and Chelsea, it feels inevitable that he would end up at Stamford Bridge eventually. Brother Abdoulaye is a boyhood Blue who made him watch Chelsea games growing up, with the Didier Drogba era and his 2012 Champions League-winning penalty among the moments etched in his memory. Koulibaly shares a mutual friend in Italy in Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola, who helped connect him with Terry and gave him a history lesson on all things Chelsea.

He considers the club’s goalkeeper and his Senegal team-mate Edouard Mendy ‘a brother’ and also played with midfielder Jorginho at Napoli. He has had to be patient but after years of links, and interest from the likes of Manchester United and Liverpool, Koulibaly has finally got his wish of a move to England.

He added: ‘I never stopped believing. Some dreams happen. My dream with my national team was to win the first AFCON and we did it. If you believe so strong afterwards it can happen.’