Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante has been able to build his reputation as one of the best defensive midfielders in world football. He was a relatively unknown quantity at Leicester City before his massive contribution to the miracle of the 2015/16 Premier League campaign.
Kante was a major act alongside Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez as Leicester City overcame title-winning odds of 5000/1 to pull off a league title win. The Frenchman formed a potent midfield partnership with Danny Drinkwater who’s also a Chelsea player though he is presently at fellow Premier League side Aston Villa whom he joined on loan in January.
Apart from his quality, N’Golo Kante has also been very consistent until this season. He has rarely been injured, whether it was at Leicester City or at Chelsea who signed him shortly after his Leicester City heroics in 2016. The 2019/20 season has been a disappointing one for Kante in comparison to the four seasons before it.
Kante won the title in his first season at Leicester City during the 2015/16 season before repeating the feat during the feat upon his Chelsea transfer. He went on to win the 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament in Russia with the French national team as well as the 2019 Europa League title.
His injury problems have impacted on his once admired consistency in recent months dating back to the Watford game on May 5, 2019. The genesis of his many injuries started with a hamstring problem during that game before a subsequently picked up knee issue almost derailed his appearance in the Europa League final match with Arsenal last year.
The 2019/20 season was been injury filled for Kante and Chelsea until the Coronavirus pandemic halted football in March. The player is now expected to miss the rest of the season as from next month when Premier League football will finally resume as a result of Coronavirus and this decision has been backed by both the club and his teammates.
Kante has not tested positive for the virus but the Frenchman had respiratory issues during the lockdown and he’s almost scared to play football again professionally with the threat of Coronavirus still lurking around. He has a history with respiratory and heart-related issues especially after he fainted in front of his Blues teammates some years ago before he was cleared of any heart problem.
He is a major player for Chelsea who are in the hunt for top four and Champions League football for next season but his teammates have decided that the best thing is to prioritise him and his health over football as pointed out by Chelsea goalkeeper Willy Caballero earlier this week.
