Why Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante deserves his PFA Player of the Year success

Add as preferred source on Google

It is fair to say that midfielder N’Golo Kante has had a rather crazy two years in the Premier League, both of them being highly successful. Last year, the Frenchman was a significant part of the remarkable Leicester City story, which saw the Foxes win a historic Premier League title. He was immense in midfield for the Foxes and embodied much of what was good about Claudio Ranieri’s side; energy, hard work and commitment.

His performances last season helped earn him a transfer to Chelsea, where he has excelled once again in a very similar midfield role. His hard work has not gone unnoticed and he rightfully earned the PFA Player of the Year to mark an extremely successful two years in the Premier League, after another extremely impressive season with Chelsea, who look set to win another league title.

Kante won the prize ahead of team-mate Eden Hazard, Tottenham striker Harry Kane, Everton’s Romelu Lukaku, Manchester United’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez.

Should Chelsea go onto to win this year’s Premier League, the 26-year-old will become the first player to win consecutive titles with different sides since Eric Cantona did it with Manchester United in 1992 and 1993.

However, Kante, unlike Cantona, is often a player who goes ignored. He does the dirty work for Chelsea, without picking up a vast amount of goals to assists.

In Antonio Conte’s side, the Frenchman is often responsible for winning the ball back and playing it to one of their many creative outlets, like Eden Hazard or Cesc Fabregas, for example.

This is perhaps the biggest difference for Kante this season. Last year, with Leicester, he also had creative responsibilities. However, in this Chelsea side, Kante is able to do what he does best; defending, protecting his side’s back line and recovering possession.

The man who came to England from French side Caen has been superb since arriving in the Premier League. It’s refreshing to see a player do the dirty work so well, and more so to see a player get rewarded for it.

Winning consecutive Premier League titles with two different clubs is a remarkable feat and N’Golo Kante thoroughly deserves the PFA Player of the Year award.

Featured Image: All rights reserved by Willow Foundation.