How can Wilfried Ndidi replace N’Golo Kante at Leicester?

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Since the loss of N’Golo Kante to Chelsea, there has been a major hole in the center of the Leicester midfield. The Foxes hoped to fill this gap with the signing of Nampalys Mendy from Nice, but because of both injury problems and overall unimpressive performances, Mendy has only appeared two times in the Premier League this year.

Because of Mendy’s lack of performance, Andy King and Daniel Amartey have had to fill in next to Danny Drinkwater for most of the year. While King possesses all of the technical attributes necessary for success, he lacks the physicality and tenacity that made Kante indispensable.

For Amartey, it’s the exact opposite: he is physically impressive, but lacks certain technical assets that Kante had. Claudio Ranieri has thankfully realized this, and he made a new midfielder his top priority in January. The player Ranieri chose was former Genk holding midfielder Wilfried Ndidi.

Who is Wilfried Ndidi?

Born and raised in Nigeria, Ndidi, 20, was found by Genk during a tournament in Nigeria and wasn’t an immediate success. Because Genk were not allowed to sign non EU players under the age of 18, Ndidi wasn’t able to play for Genk until they signed from from his local club for €78,000.

Once at Genk, he was forced into a starting role because of an injury crisis and excelled while playing center back. In the following off season Ndidi worked on himself physically, and because of Sergej Milinkovic-Savic’s move to Lazio, Genk needed a new holding midfielder.

Manager Peter Maes saw that Ndidi had exceptional stamina and work rate, so he promoted the then 18-year-old into a starting role, and the midfielder excelled to the extreme.

In the Europa League group stages, he made a full two more tackles per game than his closest rival (seven to five), and also made the most interceptions in the group at 4.8 per game.

How can he replace N’Golo Kante?

While it’s obvious that nobody can be as good as N’Golo Kante was last season or so far in this one, Ndidi is probably the best replacement Leicester could have hoped for. The things that are most talked about in regards to Kante are his work rate and ability to win the ball back. Coincidentally, these are also the things that Ndidi is the best at.

As previously mentioned, Ndidi’s highest stats are his tackling and interceptions, and, just like Kante, the Nigerian doesn’t dive into tackles, instead opting to stay on his feet.

The thing that Leicester has missed this year is Kante’s work rate. His tireless running made everyone around him look better, and so far this season, nobody has been able to match it. Thankfully, work rate is no problem for Ndidi. He never missed a minute for Genk this season and was working just as hard in his last game as he was in his first. This is the most crucial part of Ndidi’s skill set because it is perfect for Leicester.

One place where Kante is clearly superior to Ndidi is his passing. Ndidi has had an unimpressive 79% pass accuracy so far this season for Genk, and while he does play a lot of long balls, his passing does need some serious polishing if he is to succeed to the extent that his predecessor at Leicester did.

This weakness is even more important because of the style of play that the Foxes employ. Their fierce counter-attacking style means every player on their team needs to be able to hit a pinpoint long ball for an onrushing attacker to latch on to.

While he is a weaker passer than Kante, Ndidi is much better physically than the Frenchman. His 6’2” frame means that he repels aerial threats much better than Kante ever could, and his more imposing physical form means that he is able to muscle off anybody he wants to.

Another thing that Ndidi holds over Kante is his age. Ndidi is a full five years younger than Kante, which means he has much more room to grow, and it also means he has more time to work on his game and fill the role that the French international left behind.