Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle United are chasing Werder Bremen’s Karim Coulibaly for the summer.
The 18-year-old’s rise at the Bundesliga side has seen clubs across Europe take notice and this includes Chelsea, Manchester United and Newcastle United.
He joined Werder Bremen’s youth system on a free transfer in July 2024, after six years at Hamburg.
The German club promoted him to their first team at the start of this season, and he has been a regular since then.
His Bundesliga stats are as follows:
Appearances: 22
Starts: 20
Total minutes: 1,762
Minutes per game: 80
Clearances per game: 4.3
Ball recovered per game: 25
Duels won per game: 3.0
Last month, Sport Witness covered claims from Germany of Newcastle United’s interest in the centre-back.
Chelsea have concrete transfer interest
Sky Deutschland now cover the latest on Karim Coulibaly’s interested parties and Werder Bremen’s stance.
Real Madrid, Chelsea, Manchester United, Newcastle United and Napoli have all sent their scouts to watch him live in action. Among these clubs, Liam Rosenior’s side ‘in particular are showing concrete interest’.
The Germany U21 international’s development at the Bundesliga side have convinced the Blues. It’s claimed Chelsea have already made contact with his representative but are yet to open talks with his club.
The defender, for his part, would prefer to join Paris Saint-Germain. However, that looks unlikely, at least for the next window, as PSG have the centre-back position well covered.
It’s unclear where he will end up next season, but his future would be away from Werder Bremen. With several clubs queuing up, a ‘transfer this summer is 100% planned’.
Werder Bremen managing director Clemens Fritz wants to collect between €40-50m for the youngster. Their aim is for him to become the new record sale, surpassing the €27m Juventus paid to sign Diego in 2009.
Having signed Coulibaly for free, his club are in line to make a massive profit from his sale.
Contract, value and agent info
Last July, Karim Coulibaly signed an extension at Werder Bremen until 2029 and his value, as per Transfermarkt, is €22m. There’s been a drastic rise in his value as it was €1m in August 2025.
Total Sports Agency, headed by Nochi Hamasor, are representing the defender. With an exit on cards, he and his agent have to evaluate the best option in the summer.