Chelsea desperately need to bring in some players if they want to have a chance of finishing in the top 4 let alone fighting for the title. The decision to not really strengthen barring the addition of Pedro after the title winning season played a massive role in their decline last season. Leicester City showed how to win if you play with passion. If Chelsea players had shown even an ounce of that, they might have put forward a better title defence.
The likes of Cesc Fabregas and Diego Costa let their ego and poor attitude come in the way. While others such as Eden Hazard and Branislav Ivanovic were in horrible form with both players having a season to forget. The only player who really looked he like he wanted to play was Willian. The controversy with Eva Carneiro didn’t help either.
One the factors that played a major role in Chelsea’s title triumph was their stability at the back. Nemanja Matic and Cesc Fabregas were a wall in front of the back four. But this wasn’t the case this time out. Although Matic didn’t have a particularly bad season, but it’s always difficult when the man playing alongside is not up to the mark or keeps changing. Leicester on the other hand had the brilliant pair of Drinkwater and Kante. There mustn’t have been a blade of grass on the field that N’golo Kante didn’t cover whenever he played. He was absolutely relentless. Even if the opposition player managed to find a little bit of space, Kante would be there to cut him off. He doesn’t give them a minute to think or launch an attack.
Majority of the times when he picks up the ball, he finds to space to run into and the game opens up in front of him. His distribution when he wins the ball is very good as well. He made more interceptions than Matic, Fabregas, Mikel and Ramires combined averaging 4.22 per game. Tackling is one of his strengths and that is evident as he averaged 3.38 per game, double that of Matic and Fabregas. N’golo Kante epitomizes the hard work and spirit that embodies the Leicester players that was so crucial in their victory.
The 25 year old Frenchman’s contract does contain a release clause that is set at £20m pounds. Although many of the top teams in the Premier League want to buy him, Chelsea seem to have appeared as frontrunners. There is no doubt that they should make it their priority to sign him. The papers were talking about their reported interest in Belgian Radja Nainggolan, but they should definitely look to pursue Kante as their first choice.