Kalidou Koulibaly called John Terry to ask if he could wear 26 at Chelsea for the club, to confirm that the Senegalese would wear the same jersey number he wore at Napoli
Kalidou Koulibaly joined the club this summer in a £34m deal from Napoli
The Senegal international called the Chelsea legend before he picked up the number
John Terry gave the defender his blessing during a touching phone call
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Footage has surfaced showing Kalidou Koulibaly calling John Terry to ask for his blessing to wear the number 26 shirt for Chelsea this upcoming campaign.
Koulibaly, who joined from Napoli last month on a £34m deal, wore 26 during his time in Naples and wanted to keep the number that had joined Chelsea.
With the number having such gravitas at Chelsea and Terry having worn it throughout his stint as a first-team player at the club, Koulibaly felt it necessary to call the former club captain to ask for his permission to wear this season’s shirt number .
The Senegalese defender called John Terry to ask for his blessing on the number 26 . to carry
“John, I wanted to ask you something because as you know I played with the 26 in Napoli and I see that since you left the club no one has taken the 26,” he said.
He then asked, “I don’t know if you retired it or if no one wants to take it, but I wanted to ask you if it’s possible to take it?”
Terry, who supposedly wore the song throughout his career so fans wouldn’t have to buy another shirt with his name on the back, responded by giving the defender his blessing.
The former Chelsea captain wore the number for his entire first-team career at the club
“Listen, the 26 was very special to me,” he said. “I really appreciate you calling and I have no problem taking it, absolute pleasure.
“I wish you the best because I know how important the number was to me and of course I saw you wearing 26 too, so it’s my pleasure, I’m giving you the 26.”
Koulibaly thanked Terry and went on to add that it would be a ‘heavy’ shirt for him to play in before the former England captain joked by saying ‘no pressure’ and encouraging him to carry on and win trophies for the West London club.
Meanwhile, Jorginho, a former team-mate of Koulibaly during their time together in Naples, said the defender will “see the importance of the jersey number” and reveals that the two stars have joked about playing together again before.
Koulibaly has already put himself in the hearts and minds of Chelsea fans by taking the song
John Terry told Koulibaly ‘no pressure’ for him wearing the song this campaign
“I think that in the long run Kalidou will see the importance of the number even more”
‘Also that he brings respect for that number, shows respect and value.
“We used to joke, ‘Let’s play together again, let’s play together again’. It never went well and when we saw that okay, maybe it’s not a joke anymore, we started to think about it more seriously.
‘I pushed! I was like, “Come on, come to Chelsea.” And he was like “ah yes, I’d like to.” I said ‘come on’ because it’s been a long time since we played together and shared a locker room or got back together.”