Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has revealed that N’Golo Kante has unspecified injury issues, which threaten to rule him out of tomorrow’s clash with Crystal Palace.
It was announced on Friday that Kante had been nominated for the UEFA Midfielder of the Year award, an accolade that either he or teammate Jorginho would be worthy winners of.
As the new season gets underway and Chelsea look to mount a challenge for the title, there can be no doubting how significant Kante’s influence will be throughout the campaign.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, the Frenchman’s season has already faced disruption, just one game in, with Kante seemingly struggling with injury ahead of tomorrow’s tussle with Crystal Palace.
Tuchel says ‘we have some issues with N’Golo Kante from the [Super Cup] game.’ #CFC
— Nizaar Kinsella (@NizaarKinsella) August 13, 2021
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Kante featured for Chelsea in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday night but was withdrawn without completing the 90 minutes. It was assumed that was merely a consequence of his lack of match fitness.
However, Tuchel’s comments suggest that there is at least one injury which Kante is struggling with at current, with the 30-year-old seemingly not getting through the clash with Villarreal unscathed.
While Kante remains one of the best midfielders on the planet – if not THE best – he has become increasingly injury prone over the past two years, which ought to be recognised by the Chelsea board as they plan their transfer strategy for the rest of the transfer window.
The emergence of Trevoh Chalobah has lessened the need to bring in Jules Kounde from Sevilla. Perhaps a late-window bid for West Ham’s Declan Rice will be on the cards.