Arsenal legend Martin Keown believes the Premier League runners-up could have done worse than to have a look at N’Golo Kante with the Chelsea veteran on his way to Saudi Arabia.
Will the 2018 World Cup winner go down as the greatest out-and-out defensive midfielder in Premier League history? Ok, he might not have an entire position named after him like former Chelsea enforcer Claude Makelele. But, still, few players in the modern era left quite such an impact on English football.
N’Golo Kante, his contract expiring at the end of this month, leaves the country with Premier League winners’ medals from spells at both Chelsea and Leicester City. When fully fit and at his most ferocious, there is arguably no ‘number six’ in the modern era who can come close to matching Kante’s fearsome combination of physicality and technical ability.
And Keown, a three-time top-flight champion with Arsenal, wonders if his former employers are missing a trick as Kante prepares to become the latest big-name star to join Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema and Ruben Neves in Saudi Arabia.
N’Golo Kante leaving Chelsea for Saudi Arabia
“Kante, of course, is on a free. He’ll be a big loss to the Premier League,” Keown tells talkSPORT (19 June, 11am). “He could have done a very good job, for instance, for Arsenal.”
The lack of interest from rival top-flight clubs is presumably down to a series of injuries which restricted Kante to six league starts in 2022/23. Who knows? Perhaps Graham Potter would still be in a job at Stamford Bridge if he’d had the tierless ball-winner at his disposal.
“NG is a unique footballer for sure and a very special person here,” the manager told Chelsea TV before getting the sack in the spring.
“From my perspective, it’s been frustrating because we haven’t seen him on the pitch and we haven’t seen him too much in the training sessions.
“But in the small bits we had, you can absolutely see his quality, understanding of the game, incredible level, and strategically, [he’s] really smart.
“He has also got the technicality and physicality to deal with the Premier League. He’s a fantastic player.”
Arsnal could bid farewell to both Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka this summer. The Gunners, however, appear to be prioritising younger options than the ageing and injury-prone Kante; deals for Declan Rice and Romeo Lavia on the cards.
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