Chelsea send top scout to watch N'Golo Kante in action for France

Last time French journalist Francois Piraux's name popped up on our radar was last summer, when we were looking for some sort of rhyme or reason behind the acquisition of a certain Papy Djilobodji.  While we've yet to make sense of that one, here's a bit of news that's easier to digest.

Chelsea scout Piet de Visser was in Metz for France vs Scotland to watch specially Leicester midfielder N'Golo Kante. #cfc @ChelseaRumours

— Francois Piraux (@F8Piraux) June 5, 2016

Unfortunately, in and of itself, this doesn't really mean all that much.  Chelsea send scouts to various matches all around the world all the time and are monitoring a whole host of players who will never come closer to being an actual Chelsea player than that shortlist.  (And it's not like N'Golo Kante is really that much of an unknown at this point...)  But given that Kante has yet to rule out moving from Leicester City and Chelsea keep popping up as potential, however unlikely, destination, this could be something to take note of.  Add in the fact that it's Piet de Visser, who's technically just a scout but seems to be so much more than that and wield actual influence behind the scenes, and we can probably safely mark this down as a positive development.

And even if we don't get Kante in the end — which, again, seems highly unlikely from both his and our perspective — at least we're looking in the right places for squad reinforcements.  I'd much rather be hearing about midfielder rumors than some random striker or goalkeeper or yet another tricky attacking midfielder.