Chelsea are reportedly ready to offer Leicester City midfielder N’Golo Kante a lucrative five-year deal to beat Paris Saint-Germain to his signing.
The French international is amongst several Foxes players linked with an exit from the King Power Stadium this summer, with Claudio Ranieri seemingly set to lose some of his influential players from their title-winning campaign last season.
According to The Mirror, Chelsea will treble Kante’s £35,000-a-week wages at Leicester to not only convince him to leave the club, but to also beat out competition from PSG.
Antonio Conte is evidently looking to strengthen his options in central midfield, with the Mirror also noting that he is still chasing Roma midfielder Radja Nainggolan.
Further, they claim that the arrival of the combative duo could spell trouble for Cesc Fabregas’ future at Stamford Bridge, although it remains to be seen whether or not the Spaniard figures in Conte’s plans as the Italian tactician will need some source of creativity in midfield.
As for Kante, he will now likely be faced with a tough decision over whether or not to move back to France and play in the Champions League next season with the Ligue 1 champions, or continue in England and be an important part of Chelsea’s rebuild under Conte.
It is certainly a shame to see him moving closer to an exit from Leicester, as Ranieri has previously insisted that he would like one more year with his star players before they have his blessing to move on and further their careers.
Instead, the Italian will have to plot a way of replacing them with equally capable individuals as they prepare to take their seat at Europe’s top table as well as defend their Premier League crown.