Have Arsenal made a huge error in letting Chelsea sign N’Golo Kante?

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Arsenal were blessed to have the colossal presence of Patrick Vieira at the heart of their midfield for almost a decade, but his legacy is also a millstone around the neck. Every Arsenal midfielder thereafter has had to bear comparison with the rampaging Frenchman, and the analysis surrounding each defeat or cup exit typically contains the ‘they’ve never replaced Vieira’ line. Manchester United are discussed in similar tones when it comes to Roy Keane. Every year, the gossip columns are filled with speculation that Arsenal are targeting the ‘next Vieira’, be it Victor Wanyama, Yann M’Vila or William Carvalho (there is a conspicuous link between these players).

You can bet that in the eyes of some pundits, Arsenal should have signed N’Golo Kanté and perhaps laid to rest the ghost of Vieira. Arsenal signed Swiss international Granit Xhaka for a similar sized fee, around £30m, instead as well as acquiring Mohammed Elneny in January. Kanté moved to Chelsea, and the forthcoming season will see Kanté and Xhaka compared relentlessly. There are however, sound reasons why Arsene Wenger decided to target the latter. There is a voracious appetite among football followers to compare players, and it is easy to forget that often it is more important that the player and club ‘fit’ rather than their individual attributes.

Kanté is something of a throwback, in the respect that he thrives as one of a midfield pair, just as Keane and Vieira did. He possesses the engine to get to all four corners of the pitch, and practically complete the workload that would usually be prescribed to two players. His qualities on the ball are rather underrated, but his ball-winning qualities are his main virtue. This is quite opposed to the prevailing fashion among Europe’s top clubs, who typically have a constructive player in this position rather than a destructive player. Barcelona have Sergio Busquets, Real Madrid have Luka Modric and Toni Kroos and Bayern Munich have Xabi Alonso.

Leicester’s style of play negated the need for a player of this type, but Arsenal’s style is in- part modelled on those aforementioned clubs so they certainly do. For a few seasons, Arsenal’s midfield was built around Mikel Arteta who set the tempo of their play through his metronomic passing. He lacked the athleticism to be truly ‘top-class’, but was certainly under-appreciated. Arteta became crippled with injury towards his time at the club in addition to the loss of Santi Cazorla to injury left Arsenal with a reliable ball player.

Xhaka has been bought to fill this void; in essence to replace Arteta, but also bring added steel and defensive strength. Arsene Wenger tries whenever possible to get Aaron Ramsey into his midfield, but the dynamic Welshman needs a partner who can circulate the ball for him. Ramsey is a gifted and technical player to be sure, but isn’t especially comfortable receiving the ball in his own half when under pressure from opponents. In short, he is a player who does his best work running without the ball than with it. Ramsey’s best season in an Arsenal shirt came in 2013-14 with Arteta alongside him and it appears Wenger wants to reproduce this combination with Ramsey and Xhaka.

Arsenal already possess a player of Kanté’s ilk in the form of Francis Coquelin, though even the most ardent Gooner would admit he is not quite at Kanté’s level. That said, they do very similar jobs and there would be something superfluous about adding Kanté to the mix. For all the talk about Arsenal needing a ‘destroyer’, they actually need a midfield that is comfortable playing against a high press; look how badly they have struggled at Anfield in each of the last season’s and the problems Mauricio Pochettino’s Spurs have posed them. For all his virtues, Kanté is not the player to help them do this.

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