Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kanté is Inter Milan’s ‘chosen man’ to reinforce their midfield this summer but getting the Frenchman is ‘a difficult task’.
That’s what Corriere Dello Sport report today, stating that Antonio Conte views the midfielder as the perfect addition to make his midfield ‘bombproof’.
The Italian boss has been linked with making a move for Kanté for much of this summer, with several reports in Italy indicating that he believes his former player can transform Inter’s side.
So far a move hasn’t happened but the tone, surprisingly, has very much been that Kanté could leave Stamford Bridge, particularly if they were to sign Declan Rice from West Ham.
Corriere back up the reports that Inter are interested, stating that Conte wants Inter to play in a 3-5-2 next season and sees Kante as a key man to make that work.
He ‘knows perfectly’ what the Frenchman can bring to his team after working with him at Chelsea and believes that he would ‘make the team make a further leap in quality’.
The problem is Inter don’t have the money to match Chelsea’s €50m asking price at present. Inter’s owners Suning have made it clear that it is a ‘sell to buy’ for the rest of the summer and they are struggling to get rid of players at this moment in time.
The positive is Chelsea are willing to say ‘yes’ to an exit, even though the official line from the club is that Kanté is not for sale.
Realistically, though, he is not as unsellable as he once was and former manager Maurizio Sarri is to blame.
Corriere explain that the Italian’s decision to use him in a more advanced role, which is something that Frank Lampard has also done, has made him less ‘fundamental’ than he once was.
The arrival of Kai Havertz has only added to that, and it’s not gone unnoticed that Chelsea could make ‘a strong capital gain’ by selling Kanté, which would help balance the books amid their huge splurge this summer.
In short, even though Kanté is a major fan favourite, from a technical point of view, he is ‘almost a luxury’, and thus Chelsea are not completely opposed to a sale.
And should they make that clear, Antonio Conte will seemingly do everything he can to take him to Inter Milan, although they don’t have the money at present.
