Kalidou Koulibaly: In Naples They Are Grieving
In Naples, they are grieving.
But it is not just because they’re losing a long-standing club talisman who has dedicated the best years of his life to Napoli. From a footballing perspective, the gratitude of the Neapolitan people towards Kalidou Koulibaly is understandable – he is a world-class defender who could have doubled, even tripled, his wages and waltzed into the starting XI of any of Europe’s titans at his peak. Instead he stayed; never once asking to leave, leave alone throwing a tantrum when reported bids of 90m were rejected forthright by the fiercely protective club president Aurelio De Laurentiis. There is a deeper context to Neapolitan grief that football doesn’t begin to cover.
As recently as 1996, the Lega Nord (Northern League), then a right-wing, conservative political party, was demanding the succession of North Italy from the rest of the nation as a region called Padania. The party exploited a historical deep-rooted resentment in North Italy against immigrants and those from the Southern parts of the country. “South Italy equals Africa,” a slur Sean Wilsey recalls hearing back in the early 90’s in a piece for the New Yorker, is a sentiment alive and simmering even today. In 2013, Cecile Kyenge, Italy’s first Black minister, was making a speech at a party rally when a spectator threw bananas towards her. Xenophobia and other race-motivated crimes continue to rise in Italy.
Napoli, a city with working class roots in Southern Italy, naturally faces a torrent of abuse that frequently crosses into vile and nefarious territory. Some match-day chants by opposition fans labels Napoli’s as “cholera-sufferers.” Others sing about hoping that nearby Mount Vesuvius erupts again and burns down Naples with the same fiery, ghastly fury as Pompeii. Lorenzo Insigne, a Naples-born player playing for Napoli (who is regularly called “Neapolitan shit” by opposition fans), endured such intense racist abuse in a game against Hellas Verona in 2015 that Alessandro Pellegrini, then agent of Napoli manager Maurizio Sarri, said he was ashamed to be Italian. Mario Balotelli, who is at the unfortunate intersection of being Black and from Palermo in southern Italy, has faced abhorrent abuse. The most heartbreaking episode came when he broke down into tears on the bench after being subbed in a game where he suffered racist chants, ironically, by Napoli fans.
It was, sadly, no surprise then that in 2016, a 24-year-old Koulibaly was playing against Lazio when the monkey chants began. The referee, Massimiliano Irrati, stopped the game temporarily and an announcement was made over the PA system asking Lazio fans to stop. When the game restarted after three minutes, so did the chants. “At the final whistle, I was walking to the tunnel, and I was very, very angry,” reminisces Koulibaly about that game, in a piece for The Players’ Tribune.
During Napoli’s next game at home against Carpi, thousands of Napoli fans, young and old, sat in the stands wearing masks of Koulibaly’s face. It marked the true beginning of a poignant relationship between two elements viewed as the unwelcome outsiders by Italy’s radical north. The city would become such an integral part of him that his friends back in France began calling him “the Neapolitan.” His son was born in the city. Over the eight years during which there were joyous triumphs like the Coppa Italia in 2019/20 and the jarring lows of letting the scudetto slip from their grasp, the bond between them only deepened.
Koulibaly’s refusal, then, to sign a contract extension with a club this close to his heart could be the clearest indication of his thought process at this stage of his career. Leading Senegal to victory in the African Cup of Nations could have been the perfect affirmation of his leadership credentials and championship winning pedigree, achieved away from the ever-vital support of the Napoli faithful. Two Champions League winners in Sadio Mane and Edouard Mendy in the squad could only have galvanized his desire to compete for honours that have proved as elusive as catching shadows in the dark.
The thought of replacing Antonio Rudiger’s tenacity, calculated aggression and leadership with a world class, affordable alternative this season would definitely have proved as hard as moving mountains. It is little wonder, then, that Chelsea have gone for K2. Along with incredible defensive nous, intelligence and an overwhelmingly positive dressing room presence, he brings with him a void that will only be filled by silverware and adulation.
In Naples they are grieving.
In London, they are waiting.
What a piece mn, I'm now a big fan
Great penmanship my friend!