Real Madrid ‘planning’ Kanté bid as per Zidane request — report

One would’ve hoped that by having to pay a subscription fee (referral link), we would be spared from The Athletic-sourced transfer rumors, but alas, that is apparently not to be the case.

So here’s a bit of rumor mongering from the former Chelsea beat writers at ESPN (Liam Twomey) and the Evening Standard (Simon Johnson), who jointly author a wordy missive about Zinedine Zidane’s latest desire, N’Golo Kanté.

In fairness, Kanté is probably on every good little manager-boy’s transfer window wishlist, but of course when Real Madrid want someone, they usually get their man. Even if it takes them seven years, as in the case of Eden Hazard, or seven snake-years months, as in the case of Thibaut Courtoisssssss.

Kanté had rejected overtures from PSG in recent windows, but The Athletic’s story goes as far as to claim that “Madrid are planning to make a bid next year” (summer 2020), which sounds ominous even if Kanté just signed a Chelsea-record contract (£290k per week for five years) last November, and even if he appears happy to be here. He’s not getting any younger (28, turning 29 in March) and with his recent injuries exposing him as human rather than machine, he might actually harbor ambitions beyond what Chelsea can fulfill these days.

All good things must come to an end; we can only hope that for N’Golo at Chelsea, that day is nowhere near just yet.