Barcelona eyeing part-exchange approach for N’Golo Kanté — report

N’Golo Kanté, who is currently making France love him as much as we do at the World Cup, had reportedly been subject to intense interest from Paris Saint-Germain all summer. Their sporting director Antero Henrique went as far as meeting with his one of his representatives, Karim Douis, who is desperate to make bank on Kanté as he is in the last months of having the midfielder as his client. Supposedly, Antero also flew to London to meet with Chelsea, where we presume he ran into a stone wall.

Three weeks ago, French newspaper Le Parisien claimed that Barcelona and Real Madrid had also entered the fray. Since then, the rumors had gone quiet about a player Chelsea would surely demand a king’s ransom for, if they could be convinced to sell at all.

But now the often-reliable Gianluca Di Marzio has come up with a new angle on Barcelona’s interest, as the Catalans search for a replacement for Andrés Iniesta and Paulinho. While Kanté may not have the playing style of either of those two players, his ability to play as a two-man act probably makes up for it. And to make the deal a bit more ... appealing? ... for Chelsea, they would throw in André Gomes in the mix.

Hmm, the best defensive midfielder in the world in part-exchange for a player who played a mere 628 minutes in La Liga last season, and spent a lot of it either on the bench or not in the match-day squad?

Not exactly enticing. Try again, Barça!

Or better yet, don’t.