Chelsea Legend Makelele Explains One Problem With N’Golo Kante
Reuters / Gonzalo Fuentes
N’Golo Kante is often named among the best midfielders in modern football, and rightfully so, as his arrival from Caen saw tremendous success and glory. However, his recent form has not gotten past Chelsea legend Claude Makelele, who recently offered precious advice for him.
The Frenchman arrived in England back in 2015, to the Leicester City side managed by Claudio Ranieri, which produced one of the most shocking title crownings in football history. Kante, alongside Danny Drinkwater, worked out a very efficient mechanism, which played a vital role in their path to glory.
Consequently, the French international’s name got popular in the transfer market, and soon, Chelsea seized the opportunity and brought him over to Stamford Bridge. This saw Kante’s name enter English record books, as he became only the second player, after Mark Schwarzer, to lift the Premier League trophy in two consecutive seasons with different sides.
The former Leicester man’s work ethic and defensive prowess allowed Nemanja Matic more creative freedom, which later on became a highlight in the Blues’ road to Premier League greatness.
However, since the first kick-off of the new season, Kante has failed to display why he is the PFA Player of the Year. Though criticism is alien to him, the talented midfielder received some harsh cut of those recently. Nevertheless, the workload on his shoulders and the responsibilities he was given may have been too much to carry around for too long.
In this instance, club legend Makelele has offered some solid advice for his fellow countryman, as the former Real Madrid man told Goal: “He is a good player. It is difficult to find someone who loves running for everything like him.
“It might be difficult for him when he gets older. He can’t run like that for 90 minutes. I think he will one day need to change the way he plays. He could use his intelligence even more, be selective about his runs. If you want to play every four days in the Premier League, FA Cup and the Champions League, he might need to change, he runs a little.
“However, Chelsea signed him to play the way that he plays with his running. So that’s the problem. It is important for him to understand to conserve his energy. He is still young, when he is older, he will understand how to change the way that he plays.”
The 26-year-old may have had a rough few minutes, but his performance against Spurs on Sunday was a perfect reply from him to his critics.
Written by Ashish Sreejith 
Have had two addictions in life- playing football and watching football. Usually described as introverted but not when it comes to speaking and writing about the beautiful game of football.