new boy Kalidou Koulibaly has revealed that thought he was being prank-called when the Senegalese defender first called to ask for his iconic number 26 shirt.
The former Napoli man uploaded a clip to social media this week of a phone call he had with Terry in which he asked the club’s decorated former skipper if he could inherit his old jersey number – which has not been worn since.
While Terry was more than happy for Koulibaly to take on the No.26 mantle, the centre-back’s first attempt to call up the Blues icon did not exactly go to plan after Terry hung up on him.
Asked if it was a nervous phone call to make and how it came about, Koulibaly replied at his unveiling: ‘Yes it is true. I was nervous a bit because I was waiting to sign my contract with Chelsea and it happened the day before, in the night, so I was happy.
‘And the second thing I wanted was to know which numbers were free, and speaking with the team manager he told me some numbers and he didn’t tell me the 26.
‘So I asked him for the 26, but I’d done my research before and I’d seen that John left it in 2017 and nobody took it from that time, so I was a bit asking myself, is it retired? Or maybe nobody wanted to take it.
‘So I asked Gianfranco Zola, who was a player for Chelsea also who I know very well because we have the same person working for our business in Italy.
‘I talked to him, he told me the story of Chelsea, I have to know everything when I come somewhere, so I asked tough questions to him about the club, about the structure, about the supporters.
‘And I asked him for the phone number of John because I wanted to ask for the jersey and he gave me directly the number. And I called him – but at the beginning he did not believe that it was me! He thought that it was a joke!
‘So he put down the phone at first and called the team manager to ask if it was really me. And then after that I asked him respectfully that I wanted to take his jersey, his number. I know that it’s a very important number for him, and for me also because I took it directly when I went to Napoli and I wanted to keep it for here in Chelsea.
‘When he told me yes I was really happy because I know what he did for the club, the supporters, the city here and I know that it’s very important to ask him first before wearing it. I wanted to tell everybody that I asked him before [taking it] because I want to be respectful with a legend in the club.’
He added with a smile: ‘But he put the phone down first! At first he didn’t believe it was me!’
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