Chelsea Fan View: Always Believe in the Indestructible N’Golo Kante

A while back the Chelsea songsmiths concocted a little ditty in honour of N’Golo Kante. To the tune of Spandau Ballet’s ‘Gold’ it includes the lines:

“Ngolo Oh!

Kante will win you the ball,

You’ve got the power to know,

You’re indestructible,

Always believe in,

Ngolo oh!…”

After witnessing another Man of the Match performance by the diminutive but tenacious midfielder in Chelsea’s win against Leicester in the FA Cup quarter-final on Sunday, it is hard to argue with any of those sentiments.

For much of the season, many Chelsea supporters and indeed the manager Antonio Conte have bemoaned the lack of genuine World Class talent in the squad.

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It’s a fairly easy assumption to label Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois as Chelsea’s two world class players. But the reality is that Courtois’ form has been up and down this season culminating in a less than impressive performance as Chelsea were dumped out of the Champions’ League by Barcelona last week. One wonders whether his injury was diplomatic as Willy Caballero was selected for the Leicester match.

On his day, Eden Hazard has the talent to be one of the best players in the world. He is the kind of player whose silky skills can light up even the greyest day that England has to offer. But the harsh reality is that there are simply too few of them. When the going gets tough and you need your best player to step up and win the big matches for you, there is a suspicion that Hazard is often absent at worst or unable to affect the outcome at best.

That certainly seemed to be the case against Barcelona in the Champions’ League and also against Leicester at the weekend. Perhaps it is slightly unfair to criticise Hazard but he has set the bar high. There were too many occasions against Leicester where his movement with the ball was often sideways rather than forwards, or where he made a pass at the last minute instead of taking the responsibility to have a shot himself.

Jose Mourinho famously said that if he had an eleven made up entirely of Cesar Azpilicueta then Chelsea would win the Champions’ League. He was of course, talking about Azpilicueta’s heart, desire and consistency, vital ingredients in any side with aspirations of winning trophies and the hall mark of Chelsea’s Mourinho side circa 2004-2006 and arguably well beyond that.

These are exactly the attributes that N’Golo Kante brings to this Chelsea side. But like Azpilicueta they tend to go unnoticed due to his humility.

There is nothing flashy about Kante, in fact he is something of a throwback to a better time in football. He eschews tattoos, exotic haircuts and bling. His chosen mode of transport is a Mini rather than a Ferrari. But he has the engine of a Rolls Royce and sacrifices his ego for the greater good of the team.

Like Claude Makalele before him he is the metronome of the team, setting the pace at which they play the game. His tenacity in consistently winning the ball in midfield is astonishing – especially when considering he is only 5’ 5 feet tall and weighs only 70kg and is frequently up against the physical beasts that populate the midfield in modern football. He has the heart of a lion and is quite frankly indomitable.

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Against Leicester, as well as mopping up in midfield, it was his cross that was met with a header by Pedro which proved to be the decisive winning goal. But more than that, his heart and calmness in doing what he does best perhaps prevented a collective head wobble by the team as Leicester surged forward with renewed confidence having equalised on 75 minutes.

Last season Eden Hazard won Chelsea’s Player of the Year award, his third in four seasons. It should perhaps be noted that the award is voted for by the supporters. Naturally, the players with sublime skills and talents will always attract the attention. After all, we tend to like shiny things.

It is also worth noting that the Players’ Player of the Year award went to N’Golo Kante last season. Clearly the players know the value that Kante brings to the team even if the supporters do not.

If Kante does not pick up both the Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year this season then it would be a travesty.

There has been much talk recently of Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard possibly moving to Atletico Madrid and Real Madrid respectively in the summer. The thought of losing them both has caused distress for many of Chelsea’s supporters.

I would argue that the greater loss would be N’Golo Kante being plucked from Chelsea. He is the jewel in Chelsea’s crown even if he doesn’t shine like Eden Hazard. Take him out of the side and Chelsea’s midfield would crumble and its heartbeat would stop.

There is no doubt in my mind that N’Golo Kante is a genuinely world class player. As the song says, he is indestructible but more than that he is irreplaceable.

David Chidgey @StamfordChidge

David Chidgey presents the award winning Chelsea FanCast podcast which can be heard live every Monday at 19.00 at mixlr.com/chelsea-fancast/ or downloaded from Acast, ITunes, Soundcloud or chelseafancast.com @ChelseaFanCast