Much was made of Manchester United's decision to allow Paul Pogba to leave the club for free for a second time in ten years, five after paying a league record fee to re-sign him. It meant that after 2012 they let the mercurial talent go free, watch him blossom into one of the most well-rounded midfielders on the planet, signed him back for £91m, fail to get the best from him and then watch him go again.
Despite Juventus getting nearly 200 games out of one of football's great enigmas for the price of just his wages, they may not have ended up winning this scenario. Nobody has. Pogba, at 30, is struggling physically and has missed 123 games through injury since 2019. He has played 91 for his two clubs in the same period.
It is a shame to see one of the game's best talents and entertainers held back by the shackles of his body. Whether he had issues that went beyond mismanagement at Manchester United or not is besides the point, here is a player that hasn't just fallen from the top like many, he has remained there but mostly from the outside looking in.
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For Chelsea it is a warning. Not only did Pogba always appear destined to play at Stamford Bridge one day, with talk of how he would fit in under Thomas Tuchel had he decided to swap Old Trafford for west London last summer, but because of the threat of injury.
Pogba, who didn't play at the World Cup despite his best attempts to be fit for the six weeks in Qatar, would have likely partnered N'Golo Kante in the middle of the field. Four years on from their strangle hold on international football in Russia, the Pogba-Kante pivot would be back and ready to rule again.
Didier Deschamps' team was ravaged by a fitness plague. Raphael Varane and Karim Benzama joined those out of action. Christopher Nkunku was ruled out in training before the tournament and Lucas Hernandez didn't last the competition. The core was ripped out and the writing on the wall.
Kante has missed 88 games of his own since 2019, though. He played through a knee strain to win Chelsea the Europa League but has hardly been able to string two halves together since. How he managed to consistently perform at an unprecedented world class level in the 2021 Champions League knock-out stage is nature defying.
Across that three and a half year period he has played just 127 games. It's a better record than Pogba but not enough for a player so important and so highly valued. His levels when even half fit are that good he makes a new contract seem a good option. Chelsea have two months to decide and they probably won't see him again to make the call.
His latest injury, this time to his groin, will keep him sidelined until the end of the season, one month later and he can leave for free. Although it is understood that talks are progressing for an extension, the 32-year-old and the club need to gauge whether this is a good step or not.
Chelsea are toying with the idea of having Kante, who seduces people with the very idea that he will be fit. Even Kante for half the games can be a major asset but you cannot control when and where the ugly head of injury crops up anymore. Protecting him for one game doesn't reduce the chance of him breaking down the next.
In a team that is getting younger and with an incoming manager as demanding physically as any, can Chelea afford to push Kante that far, both literally and financially? There are teams out there that will pay top dollar to own Kante, there will be options for him outside of SW6, but do the owners, and will Mauricio Pochettino, want to risk seeing him run a mockery in Europe for someone else?
The fear with Kante, as has been the case since 2019, is that someone else might hold the right cards. If Paris Saint-Germain were to only play him in the biggest games and he were guarded and it were to work, do Chelsea look like the fools? And in the case that they play it safe, offer the big money for the big player on the new contract, what happens if he breaks down like Pogba?
The wage structure is changing, the dynamics of the squad are moving and Kante is a player that fits neither firmly into the plans or the pile of players waiting to be let go. Chelsea would need to replace Kante if he were to be set free this summer - their need for a new midfielder extends beyond his future anway but another body would be needed without him. Does this matter?
It is a question that appears not to hold a clear answer. Clubs not called Manchester United very rarely let players of the quality of Kante and Pogba go for free, but the value of doing so has been shown and Chelsea are increasingly being made aware of that very fact.
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