During Leicester City's most unlikely Premier League title-winning campaign last season, three players were seen as most key to their success: Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kanté. The latter was arguably at the heart of their efforts (and their midfield), though it were the former two who collected the individual awards instead.
In the summer, Kanté switched allegiances from Leicester to Chelsea, joining Antonio Conte’s new project and forgoing guaranteed Champions League participation. With his new club, Kanté has proven his qualities once again (unlike Vardy and Mahrez at struggling Leicester), including another scintillating performance against Manchester United in the FA Cup.
"Not especially to score goals. But when I have the pass, to look forward, to try to make me improve. But also when we have the chance to score, we like to create chances and score. It’s important, sometimes it could make the difference for the team, for the game, and when we have the chances to score, we have to score."
Despite his dominance, Kanté knows how can improve, just as Conte has been telling us all along, and the 25-year-old is keen to follow Conte’s advice.
"He didn’t especially tell me that, but we know he was a midfielder, we know his career, we can respect what he did. When he gives you advice, I have to understand and try to improve."
"Sometimes you have some chances, sometimes you can make the difference for the team. We have to score, we have to be able to score. [Monday I was] happy to score, to make the team win 1-0."
Through his goals, but more importantly, through his control of the midfield, Kanté could possibly lead his team to even greater heights than he did Leicester, with Chelsea on course for a potential Double-winning season at this point.
"We are going to fight for every competition, in the league and the cup. The next game in the league, we have to prepare very well this game. The cup is a target, we are going to play to win every game, we are going to play to win against Tottenham."
"We have to win every game. First we are going to try to win the next game in the league, against Stoke [City], and when the cup comes, we are going to try to win. It is a good challenge."
-N'Golo Kanté; source: The Independent
With Kanté in top form, the sky is the limit.