Salomon Kalou (born August 5, 1985 in Oumé, Côte d’Ivoire) is an Ivorian professional football player, who plays his club football as a forward for Chelsea in the English Premier League, and formerly for the Dutch club Feyenoord.
He is often used on the wings at Chelsea. He has a preference for playing on the left wing as this gives him opportunities to cut inside and take shots with his favoured right foot.
Kalou moved to Chelsea on May 30, 2006, for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in excess of £9,000,000.Under contract with Chelsea until 2009, Kalou was handed the number 21 jersey.
Former Chelsea manager José Mourinho praised the young Ivorian as being hardworking, versatile, eager to improve, and unafraid of the physical side of the game. Kalou admitted that he brought a camera with him to his first training session at Chelsea’s training centre at Cobham because he could not believe that he was going to be rubbing shoulders with famous footballers like Michael Ballack, John Terry, and Didier Drogba. Describing the experience, Kalou said:
“This was the dream moment of my life and I did not want to wake up and find that it was not real.”
According to Soccernet, Kalou revealed that he idolizes French forward and Arsenal record goalscorer Thierry Henry and tries to imitate Henry’s moves in his free time. His admiration of Henry was a factor in his decision to play in the Premier League, as it was the league where Henry became a superstar.
At Chelsea, Kalou plays with compatriot, Côte d’Ivoire captain Didier Drogba. Kalou scored his first goals for Chelsea in a reserve game against Portsmouth bagging a hat trick and the match ball in a 5–0 thrashing. Kalou scored his first senior goal for Chelsea in a two-goal win over Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the Carling Cup.
Kalou scored his first Premiership goal in December 2006 in Chelsea’s 3–2 victory over Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium. He scored his second Premiership goal against Blackburn in Chelsea’s 3–0 win. He also scored a 93rd minute goal against Watford, putting Chelsea 1–0 up. He also scored a volleyed goal from 12 yards against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup Quarter-Final, which ended 3–3. Chelsea won the replay 1–2, before progressing to the final with a similar scoreline against Blackburn Rovers. Kalou also came on as a substitute in the 2007 FA Cup Final win over Manchester United for his second trophy in England, having earlier come on as a substitute for Chelsea in the 2007 Football League Cup Finalvictory over Arsenal.
Kalou has five brothers and eight sisters from the same mother. His brother, Bonaventure Kalou, also plays professional football, and is currently on the Dutch team Heerenveen. Salomon joined Feyenoord during the time his brother Bonaventure was playing for the club from Rotterdam.
At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands and Côte d’Ivoire were allocated to the same group in the first round. If Kalou had become a Dutch citizen and was selected for the Netherlands, he could have played against his native country and possibly against his own brother. Kalou’s failure to acquire Dutch citizenship was a factor in his decision to leave Feyenoord for Chelsea.
He has been named in the Côte d’Ivoire national squad on a number of occasions, However he rejected all call ups until February 6, 2007 when he finally made his Côte d’Ivoire debut in the friendly against Guinea, where the Elephants ran out 1–0 winners. He also featured in the Elephant’s African Cup of Nations and scored a terrific goal to stun co-favourites Nigeria in the opening game.
After failing to obtain his Dutch passport, Kalou decided to play for the Côte d’Ivoire. His first international goal was scored on March 21, 2007 in a friendly against Mauritius. He played at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations with the team, scoring 3 goals in the process, and reached 4th place after losing to Ghana in the 3rd place play off.
