Winning the league title in his first season in the Premier League with Leicester City, a lot has been said about N’Golo Kanté’s importance in English football over the past two years, and a lot of comparisons have been made.
The most common one, and for good reason, has been Claude Makélélé, who was a stalwart of the 2004-05 and 2005-06 Premier League winning Chelsea teams.
He said: “What I like about him is that he’s very generous. He plays with a smile on his face, and that’s an exceptional quality. I really hope he has a better career than mine, but he still needs that leadership.
“That doesn’t mean be a captain, but to have an aura within the team that when they look at him, they think ‘We’re going to win’ or when he speaks to them, they go ‘You’re right’. When he has that aura, he’ll be an exceptional player. That’s when he’ll become a regular for France.”
Considering many see the 25-year-old as the successor to Makélélé’s legacy, that’s high praise indeed.
Quite shy off the pitch, Kanté is anything but on it, and with the performances he’s been putting in at Stamford Bridge, it won’t be long before that aura Makélélé wants him to have comes naturally, and people realise he’s the main reason why the team is doing so well.
