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Kalidou Koulibaly delighted with first days at Chelsea: I'm excited

Kalidou Koulibaly has enjoyed his first days as a Chelsea player.

The Senegal defender moved to Chelsea from Napoli last week and has joined his new teammates on their preseason tour of the US.

On working with manager Thomas Tuchel, he told the club's website: "Really excited. It's important to me that he called me, he told me what he wants from me and everything he told me was perfect for me to come to Chelsea.

"I'm really happy to work under him. I knew him from his days in Paris as PSG and he called me direct to ask if I wanted to come to Chelsea, and of course the answer was yes. I'm really happy to work with him and to work with his staff. He's a good man, a very good trainer and I'm looking forward to working with him.

"I hope to give my experience to all the guys to help them, especially the younger players. I played for eight seasons in Napoli, I've played in the Champions League and in some important games and now I want to learn about the Premier League and give my best. I know that the Premier League is very fast and physical but it is also tactical, so it's something I will have to adapt to quickly and to improve myself to be the player the coach wants. I will give him and the team everything he wants from me."

Koulibaly also said: "I wanted to pass my medical and get out to the pre-season tour in America as soon as possible but these things take a little bit of time.

"There was a lot of paperwork and documents to sort out first, so I did a lot of walking around the hotel on my own to kill time while I waited for the news to come in that it was done! I spoke a lot with the manager and with my family and I'm just really happy, because I made a big decision to come to Chelsea. I wanted to test myself in the greatest league in the world and I want to thank everyone for giving me this chance."

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Paul Vegas

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