Chelsea midfielder Jorginho rates Kalidou Koulibaly so highly he believes the Senegal colossus will wear John Terry's old no.26 shirt with distinction.
Legendary centre-back Terry has already given his seal of approval to the £34million defender, who replaces Antonio Rudiger. While Jorginho admitted Koulibaly is not yet aware of the significance of the shirt, he believes it will not weigh heavy on his team-mate.
"He has a big personality and I am pretty sure and hope so much that he does so well in the same way," said Jorginho told reporters. "He obviously won’t have the same impact because of the years like all the history that Terry has and he is respectful for Terry. But I hope the shirt number brings him luck."
Terry, who lifted 15 major trophies and reached three finals with Chelsea, tweeted last week: "Top signing this is."
Jorginho added: “I think Kalidou will realise the importance of the shirt number even more over time. Also that he will bring with him respect for that number, showing respect and worth."
Asked about the role he played in the Senegal international’s transfer, Jorginho - who played with Koulibaly at Napoli - revealed he began pushing for his friend to join him at Chelsea some time ago.
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"Last year!" He laughed. "It was a lot. We always said as a joke: 'Let’s play together again, let’s play together again.' It never happened properly and when we saw that okay, maybe its not a joke anymore, we started to be more serious about it.
"I pushed! I was like come on, come to Chelsea. And he was like ah yeah I would like to. I said ‘just come’ because it has been a long time since we played together and shared a changing room or be together again."
Jorginho believes Koulibaly is the perfect replacement for combative Rudiger, who is now at Real Madrid. "I think so," he went on. "I think he was the best choice and I said before when the season was going to end that the first name it has to be is Kalidou Koulibaly.
“Because of the player he is and the person he is in the changing room. He can add to the club and to his teammates.
"He is an experienced player. not just on the pitch. You will see he is a brilliant defender, strong, fast. He plays on the ball. But as a guy, a person in the changing room he is just amazing. He is such a nice guy and brings a lot to this club."
On signing for Chelsea, Koulibaly said: "Chelsea came first to get me in 2016 but we didn’t make it. Now when they came to me I accepted it because they really wanted me to come to the Premier League to play for them. When I spoke to my good friends Edou [Mendy] and Jorginho they made my choice easier so I’m really happy to be with you today."
