Chelsea great Claude Makelele believes every team in the world would love to have a player like N’Golo Kante in their midfield.
France international Kante has become one of the league’s most garlanded players since joining Leicester City in the summer of 2015, moving to Chelsea for £32million a year later after playing a crucial role in the Foxes’ shock title win.
At Stamford Bridge the 26-year-old repeated the trick – also earning individual accolades as the double footballer of the year – and earned an even greater honour when Makelele decreed that his famed position should be renamed “the Kante role”.
Speaking at the ASPIRE4SPORT Congress & Exhibition Makelele labelled Kante “one of the best midfielders in the world” and is convinced that no-one would opt against signing the France international.
“He enjoys the job,” Makelele told Standard Sport. “He plays for his team-mates. He’s not selfish. Every manager in the world wants a player like that in his team.
“He produces the quality with his plays and his runs but that’s not all, he does the defensive work too. He has got everything a complete midfielder has. He is the perfect fit for the system Conte has put on the pitch.”
This summer Chelsea spent a further £40million to provide Kante with an improved partner in the form of Monaco midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko.
The new signing met with the Makelele seal of approval, not least because it was the former Real Madrid star who helped forge him into one of Europe’s most dynamic midfielders when he was a coach at Monaco.
Bakayoko has admitted that when he first met Makelele he “wasn’t a very good player” but the 44-year-old, now Swansea assistant manager, sees it differently.
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“I met him when I was working in Monaco and I pushed him to make that position his own,” Makelele said. “He defends with such quality now.
“[Kante and Bakayoko] are so much stronger together. Kante runs a lot, Bakayoko is more of a dribbler, he’s more clever and powerful in possession.”