“I will play …” Chelsea star makes selection vow after being dropped in Potter’s first game

Chelsea centre-back Kalidou Koulibaly says he will prove to Graham Potter that he deserves a place in his starting eleven.

The £34m signing was named on the bench for Potter’s first game in charge against Red Bull Salzburg and, while he says he does understand the manager’s reason for making the decision, Koulibaly has backed himself to establish himself as a regular starter under the new regime:

“It’s up to me to be patient, it’s up to me to show that I deserve to play, to show in training that the coach can trust me. Compared to this, there will be no problem. We are also in the first weeks, it is normal for the coach to rely on players who are used to the emblem of Chelsea and who have been there for a very long time. When I will be at 100 percent, there will be no problem, I will play again.”

Koulibaly got his Chelsea career off to the perfect start after scoring in the 2-2 draw against Tottenham last month, but he has found things a bit more difficult since then.

A sending off against Leeds for two bookable offences wasn’t his finest moment, and he didn’t cover himself in glory during the subsequent defeats to Southampton and Dinamo Zagreb either.

Chelsea’s next game is against Crystal Palace on Saturday and Koulibaly will be hoping that Potter opts to start him at Selhurst Park.