Top 47 Quotes & Sayings by Kalidou Koulibaly

Senegal is a great football country.

You grow when there are trophies in your trophy cabinet. I hope to achieve that here in Naples.

Since I first came here, my focus has always been to keep improving with Napoli.

We want to take Napoli to the top.

Naples reminds me of Senegal, as when a foreigner arrives, everyone does their best to help him out.

I waited for a long time for a call-up for Les Bleus, but that call never came.

When we don't win it's hard for everyone.

Maybe some people look at me and just see a footballer, or a black footballer. But I am much more than this. I tell my best friends all the time, 'If you look at me as a footballer, and not as Little Kouli, and not as your friend, then I have failed in life.'

Since I'm a professional, every day I try to become a better player.

Whenever I got home, I'd hurry to complete my homework and then play football in front of our house.

I grew up in a town in France called Saint-Die, where there were many immigrants - Senegalese, Morrocans, Turks. My parents came from Senegal. My father came first, actually. He was a lumberjack. Yes, a real French lumberjack.

Whenever teams play against Senegal, they want to do really well, and each challenge is always different.

I think children understand the world better than adults do. Especially when it comes to how we treat other people.

For them it's normal that people of all colours are equal. When I look at schoolkids, I think that we should all be like that.

Everyone has strengths and weaknesses, you just have to know how to match up against a player.

The game In England could be suitable for me but I like Italy.

My parents were migrants and I experienced first hand the challenges they had to overcome. If they hadn't decided to seek a better life elsewhere, I could never have aspired to become the person I am now.

If you work, you always get your reward in the end.

I can still remember how my mother would shout my name out of the window because I was playing football late at night and had school to attend the next day.

I try to give 110 per cent to these fans, as they give me so much love and I want to repay them. I throw myself into the challenge for them, as I want to take the Napoli colours to the top, so it fills my heart when they cheer for me.

Sometimes people ask me this question in interviews and it is very difficult to answer. They say, 'Kouli, how does it feel when the fans make these racist howls at you? Does it bother you? What should be done?' I think that until you have lived it, you cannot really understand. It is such an ugly thing, and it is hard to talk about.

I love so much about Naples, but I had a few problems with all the lovely food when I arrived and put on weight!

I do not need the transfer window or anything to improve myself.

We need to realise that we're all different but equal at the same time.

I'm a Napoli player and I'll give 100 percent to win something with this shirt.

I had the French culture at school and I love this culture but I also had another culture at home - that of Senegal. I think this way of growing up has made me the person I am today - because I had the two cultures.

Here I am very well, the city and the team give me everything, I want to give back to the Neapolitans, I want to give them the Scudetto.

No matter where you come from, everything comes through work.

I believe we are all equal and that's a value I've had since I was little. It's something I can believe in and I can show that to everyone.

The people of Naples are so welcoming and happy to see me. My family and my brothers feel at home here too, we've got the best and most encouraging fans.

Napoli have given me so much. After the initial scepticism, their fans appreciated me. I would like to give them a trophy back.

The market is full of talk, I prefer facts, which help us win, and to become great together.

In short, with Sarri football is maths.

I know that in Senegal, the fans and the media are demanding, and that is normal.

Sarri has really helped me. 'Listen to me and you will become a champion' he told me in his first year at Napoli.

I grew up around a lot of foreign people - it was a big mix but there were never any problems.

How can you make the people change? How can you reach them in their heart? I do not have the answers for this.

I realised some Lazio fans were making monkey noises whenever I touched the ball. It is impossible to know what you are supposed to do in this moment. There were times when I wanted to walk off the pitch to make a point, but then I told myself that this is exactly what they want.

I grew up reading Martin Luther King and Malcolm X.

We have to keep improving.

Napoli did great things with Sarri and we hope to do even better under Ancelotti.

In Naples, each time I go out people want to take my photo or ask for autographs.

There is a lot of motivation for me at Napoli, we want to prove we're at the top level and I want to keep improving here.

It takes time and experience to make a person.

There has been great progress made in the world, but the fact that we're still fighting against discrimination means we've gone backwards and that's a shame.

I fear everyone. But I play without fear.

Racism in the stadiums must be defeated, but to succeed, even before the laws of sport, those of the State will be needed, deterrents that help to curb these unhealthy habits.