21-year-old Chelsea man is playing well enough to start over £33m summer signing – opinion

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Kalidou Koulibaly was brought to Chelsea with a lot of promise that he would be the £33m replacement for the departing Antonio Rudiger.

The German left Stamford Bridge after his best season by far on an individual level, and he has perhaps not enjoyed the same success since his high-profile move to Real Madrid.

The same unfortunately can be said for Koulibaly. The Senegal international has had a number of shaky performances in his first season in England.

While he enjoyed a promising World Cup, again there were fingers pointed as his country were dumped out of the competition by England.

In the last two games, the role of centre-back has been occupied by new signing Benoit Badiashile.

The Frenchman has been signed with an eye to the future. Despite his experience in Ligue 1, he is only 21 years of age.

Badiashile should play over Koulibaly

Any fears that he wouldn’t be ready to play straight away though have been put to bed instantly. He has provided assured performances now in Premier League games against Crystal Palace and Liverpool.

The outing at Anfield will bring Graham Potter the most joy however, as he was directly dealing with one of the best players in the league in Mohamed Salah.

His ability on the ball is something he has already showing to be a massive strength, and there’s no better player to learn from right now than veteran defender Thiago Silva.

It could spell danger for Koulibaly though. He won’t have been expecting to be a substitute when he made the long-awaited move from the Serie A.

However, so far it would only be fair to reward Badiashile with more time in the starting line-up, with him so far forming a strong relationship with Silva in the centre.

Wesley Fofana is reportedly on his way back from injury soon, another Frenchman with promising prospects at Stamford Bridge.