It’s tricky trying to explain a miracle. Leicester City winning the title in 2016 when most pundits and many supporters assumed the best they could hope for was to narrowly avoid relegation was a football miracle that brought joy well beyond the confines of the East Midlands. How, though, did Claudio Ranieri’s team pull it off?
There were many disparate reasons, but if you had to highlight only one then it would be the contribution of N’Golo Kanté. The quiet, unassuming France midfielder was so influential, so committed, so intuitive and so hard-working that he almost did the work of two men. He executed more tackles than anyone else in the league and he intercepted the ball more as well. He was not flash, not tall, he said little. Attention tended to sway towards the ebullient Jamie Vardy and swashbuckling Wes Morgan. Chelsea recognised his worth, though, and it still feels peculiar and counterintuitive that they were able to sign him a few weeks after the title win for only £32 million.
They had bought not only a better than decent midfielder but the player who would guide them to the title in his first season at Stamford Bridge and win the World Cup with France a year later.
Kanté is out of contract this summer and is free, from today, to discuss his future with overseas clubs. Among his suitors are Paris Saint-Germain. As always with players over 30 — Kanté will be 32 in March — the impasse is over the length of a new deal.
He has only featured twice this season for his club, back in August, and missed out on going to Qatar with France. He has a hamstring injury and may not be fit for another two months. He has missed games due to knee issues and Covid-19. It is not an exaggeration to state he may be on the decline. And yet this is a player who does not hold back when not in peak form. Even a restricted Kanté is worth more than most midfielders.
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Chelsea are reportedly confident he will agree terms and if he does this will be one of Graham Potter’s most important deals. The team have lost their machine-like efficiency and right now do not appear particularly well placed to secure a top-four finish. They are a team in transition. They have a new owner who, unlike Roman Abramovich, is keen to think beyond the short-term hit of relentless silverware, to absorb an extended unexceptional period if it leads to stability and an organic growth as well as a winning style.
Todd Boehly has, according to Potter, made it plain the head coach will not be at risk of the sack just because Chelsea sit outside the Champions League places. There is an emphasis on buying for the future rather than for an instant sugar hit and that requires patience both with the performances and the coaching staff.
Every project needs experience at its core, however; someone who can adjust the mood and boost the heart rate, someone who not only knows how to win but to win against the odds. Chelsea fans may think they actually have too many such characters. Whenever César Azpilicueta is too slow to catch an opposition winger, the captain’s vast knowhow and devotion is cited as compensatory. Likewise, when Thiago Silva, 38, limps or slows down, supporters console themselves with his expert reading of the game. Jorginho is also out of contract in the summer and can be lacking in dynamism, but his maturity and unflappability offset the downside.
Kanté is arguably nothing without his athleticism. His passing is not a particular attribute. Nor is Kanté a forceful presence in the dressing room. He is not one of those players we watch drop deeper as they age, making up for diminishing speed with their astute reading of the game.
Yet if there is one more full season left in him in which he can bring what is a distinctive style of commitment and wholehearted energy, then Chelsea ought to dig deep to secure it. There is a humility and self-effacement in Kanté that is rare for one who has won so much. He brings perspective, a dash of realism and the sense that you should not be able to grasp the top trophies unless you give absolutely everything of yourself so that your team-mates can shine.
