N'Golo Kante to leave Chelsea for a big European club says former coach
Chelsea might have only signed N’Golo Kante from Leicester City, but if his former coach, Patrice Garande, is to be believed, then the Frenchman has already planned his way out of Stamford Bridge. Kante is yet to hit the heights of Leicester City with his new club in London. However, the former Caen midfielder has already drawn out a career path for himself and would like to follow it with diligence.
“I think from the moment N’Golo came to us in Ligue 2 he had a career plan but without trying to go too quickly,” Garande told ESPN.
The Caen coach then went on to praise Kante’s humble nature while also stating that it is his former player that has full control over his next move rather than his agents of well-wishers.
“He had his feet on the ground, and that is why he did two seasons with us, and then left. It’s he who decides.
Garande stated that while Kante’s rise has been a quick one, it was progressive and methodical.
“I thought Leicester was a good choice and one that suited him because in his mind going to England in a club like that was a step towards going even higher. He has had a rapid rise, but it has been progressive.
“He was in Ligue 2, then Ligue 1. He goes to England with Leicester, they win the Premier League.
“Then he goes to Chelsea, and after that he’ll go to a very, very big European club, that’s for sure.”
Only time will tell whether Garande’s prediction will bear fruit or not. However, what can be said with certainty is that the 25-year old midfielder has to get back to his best and stamp his place with the Blues before thinking about moving elsewhere.
So far, he has made seven appearances for Antonio Conte’s Chelsea but hasn’t been able to replicate his Leicester City form.
For the Foxes, he played in 40 games last season and was, tactically, their most important player. It was his form in England that earned him his first cap for France earlier this year, but he couldn’t earn the same indispensable status with his national team like he did with Claudio Ranieri’s outfit.
Indeed, after putting in a superb display in France’s first game of the Euro 2016 against Romania, he was an unused substitute in the 1-0 loss against Portugal in the final.
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