Africa Cup of Nations - 5 players to watch out for - Senegal

#2 Kalidou Koulibaly

Koulibaly has been in superb form for his club

Linked with a big money move to Chelsea in the summer, Koulibaly ticks all the boxes to be a dominating centre back – tall, strong and tough tackling with impeccable positioning sense. Playing an important role in a defence that conceded just 32 goals in 2015-16, the Senegalese back four would be looking up to him as a leader figure in the heart of the defence.

He is expected to live up to the hype – after all, few people have a better eye for a good defender than Antonio Conte, and someone whom he deemed worth around £50 million can hardly be a novice. The prospect of earning a big money switch with a string of solid performances would also be highly appealing to the young defender.

His positioning and tactical awareness have improved leaps and bounds over the past couple of seasons, and now would be a good time to demonstrate that he can improve upon his folly of committing unnecessary fouls, and take his game to the next level.