It is a measure of the confidence instilled by Graham Potter in his new Chelsea squad that Kalidou Koulibaly believes they can win the title.
Yes, that title. The Premier League. The one plundered by Manchester City four times in the last five years.
The one that Arsenal, top and ten points clear of Chelsea in sixth, now have their sights on after their magnificent start to the season.
In fact, of the teams with 31 points by this stage of a Premier League season, only Newcastle have failed to go on to win the title.
Koulibaly, however, has seen enough in his early days under Potter to stick his neck out.
Before last Saturday’s shock defeat at Potter’s former club Brighton, the Blues had won six of his first nine games in charge in all competitions, drawing the other three and restoring their defensive stability with five clean sheets in that sequence.
“It will be Chelsea’s at the end of the season,” he told Italian publication Courier della Serra ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Dinamo Zagreb. "I want to write history here.”
The former Napoli defender, 31, has 64 caps for Senegal and knows how to win, having lifted the Africa Cup of Nations with his country earlier this year and the Italian Cup with Napoli two years ago.
He joined Chelsea for £32million in the summer after eight years in Italy, only to see Thomas Tuchel - the man who wanted him no matter what - sacked after the club’s opening Champions League game, away to Zagreb.
"I arrive with a manager who wanted me at all costs, and then he leaves,” Koulibaly added. “Both Tuchel and Graham Potter play with a three-man defence.
“I was used to Napoli with the four-man defence. It’s another arrow that I put in my bow. You never stop learning. I knew I was going to have a hard time, and it did.
“Even (former Chelsea stars) Gianfranco Zola and Didier Drogba had anticipated it would be that way and told me.’
The Chelsea team have been resurgent since Tuchel’s departure, however, with four clean sheets in the eight Premier League games in which Koulibaly has started. The Blues Colossus even weighed in with a goal against Spurs in August.
He believes he is now on course to achieve the success he believes has been his destiny since he agreed to quit Serie A, despite Napoli’s near-invincible form this season, for the Premier League.
“I believe in destiny,” he went on. “My period was over, I had given everything. From the point of view of emotions it changes little. I feel every goal, every victory, as if I lived them first hand.”
Napoli have been winners of 15 of their 17 games in all competitions this season, drawing the other two in August. Since then they have been relentless, qualifying from their champions League group with ease.
Koulibaly insisted he is delighted at his former club’s incredible run without him.
“Do you know what I’m talking about in the Chelsea locker room? Of the victories of my former teammates. And do you know why? I’m proud of it.”
