Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly believes his team have made good progress during the current campaign and they can offer a much better challenge for the Serie A crown next term. The Naples outfit were within a point off Juventus after Koulibaly scored in a 1-0 win over the Bianconeri but Maurizio Sarri’s side have since lost the plot.
Since the Juventus win, Napoli have dropped five points in the space of two games and this has literally guaranteed the Bianconeri the title with two matches left due to their superior goal difference. Despite this, Koulibaly remains confident that the club can end Juventus’ league dominance next season. He said: “I always believed in the Scudetto, even when we were many points off Juve. I knew we could do it. Next season, we must do even more to get this Scudetto. We want to keep growing to take the title, as this city needs it. We want to make history.”
Following their Turin triumph, Napoli were dependent on one of Inter Milan or AS Roma to restrict Juventus from a victory and Koulibaly admits that the Bianconeri’s 3-2 triumph over the former did have a psychological impact on the team prior to their 3-0 loss to Fiorentina where he was sent off in the sixth minute, he added: “It was a decisive defeat. Perhaps Maurizio Sarri is right when he said we lost that game in the locker room after Inter-Juve. Subconsciously - we just gave up.”
With another failure, reports have raised question marks over the future of Sarri who is supposedly attracting interest from Premier League giants Chelsea. The Blues are pondering over a replacement for Antonio Conte at the end of the season and there are suggestions that they could release Sarri from his Napoli contract by triggering his £8m release clause this summer.