N’Golo Kante is currently a hot topic on the footballing stage.
El Desmarque have remarked that the midfielder wants to leave Stamford Bridge in the not so distant future and has set his sights on European giants such as Real Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich and even Barcelona.
But the Catalans are now seemingly out of the race. If the new report coming from Mundo Deportivo is to be believed, the Blaugrana have no interest in the midfielder reported to cost around €100m (£84.9m).
It does sound like a harsh verdict on a player that’s held in pretty high regard both among the fans and managers alike. Arsene Wenger heaped praise on him when talking to beIN Sports last summer (as quoted by Goal):
“He is one of the most influential midfielders I’ve seen play football. He constantly makes simple decisions and never overcomplicates it.”
With 156 appearances for the Blues already, he’s also been a major piece of their jigsaw ever since his arrival. But even with that being said, this snub from Barcelona could indicate a big change is shaping up in the world of football and Kante’s kind – for all their quality and skill – might be a dying breed among the very top clubs.
The 28-year-old Frenchman has spent the vast majority of his career playing as either a central or defensive midfielder, as per the games Transfermarkt have in their database, and is mostly known for his incredible ability to break up play, intercept the ball and initiate those transitions.
We can see as much in his career average of 3.4 tackles and 2.5 interceptions for the games documented by Whoscored, which is an incredible achievement in itself but only becomes essential when Kante is actually playing for a team that thrives in such an environment. And top teams in modern football rarely do.
Nowadays, if you are in a big team, chances are you’ll be the one constantly attacking, constantly dominating the ball while facing a low-block and a squad that’s willing to turtle up, weather the storm and hit on the break.
In that scenario, Kante’s skillset becomes limited to snuffing out the odd counter-attack, rather than winning the ball back and starting breaks of his own – a defining characteristic of his role at Leicester City and Chelsea under Antonio Conte.
After all, how is he supposed to tackle and intercept the ball when he’s mostly involved in big possession plays and structural attacks? This is not to say that the Frenchman doesn’t have qualities other than his defensive and transitional contributions.
On the contrary, this season he has tallied three goals in the Premier League already while in 2018/19, he could boast with five goals and four assists in total and across all competitions.
Clearly, there’s more to this midfielder than just tackles and interceptions. But still, those are his most unique and established strengths – that’s the environment that gets the best out of him. Yes, he’s decent in other aspects as well but for the likes of Barcelona, being decent on the ball isn’t really enough.
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The likes of Frenkie de Jong and Arthur, highly technical midfielders who can also do the defensive part well, are more welcoming reinforcements for the Catalans, and a similar thing can be concluded for Chelsea as well.
Frank Lampard’s renaissance has also rejuvenated the likes of Mateo Kovacic and Jorginho, two of the Blues’ players who were struggling under Maurizio Sarri.
But now that Chelsea are also transitioning to an attacking force that dominates play – with 57.6% possession in the Premier League and 55.2% in the Champions League – maybe Kante’s expertise are slowly but surely becoming less relevant at Stamford Bridge as well.
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule with big European teams that love to defend and hit on the counter – the likes of Atletico Madrid and Juventus could be examples of squads that prefer a slower approach to games and value a good defence over a sensational offence. Likewise, every top club will be involved in big games where Kante’s sheer energy is crucial.
In general, however, it feels like top teams would benefit more from an elite midfielder who’s able to break the lines, cut the deep blocks open and create opportunities than splashing the cash for a deep-lying ball-winner who thrives when out of possession and setting the attacks against the run of play.
When everything we’ve just said is taken into consideration, Barcelona’s “no” to a World Cup winning midfielder and two-time Premier League winner is no longer such a surprising verdict.
Not only that but it also may be an indication of what the future holds for those lying deep in the midfields of Europe’s biggest clubs. Play-breakers are becoming less and less prevalent, with playmakers starting to reign supreme.
Elsewhere, many Spurs fans were absolutely buzzing with links to a player that sliced through their team in their last encounter…
