As Liverpool midfield woes continue, there would have been a time when N’Golo Kante could have been the perfect solution for Jurgen Klopp.
One of the most hard-working midfielders around, able to out-run anyone and lauded for his effectiveness disrupting attacks, winning possession back and in turn springing swift counter-attacks, more than one manager has described fielding the Frenchman as like virtually boasting an extra man in one’s starting XI.
After all, 70% of the planet is covered by water and the rest is covered by Kante, as the popular internet meme goes!
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When you consider the Reds’ own midfield struggles this year, and how the likes of Fabinho look leggy and have lost form completely, the attributes that go hand-in-hand with just the mere thought of the Chelsea midfielder are arguably exactly what they’re missing at Anfield.
Perhaps then, it is no surprise that Liverpool have suddenly found themselves linked with a move for the 31-year-old. The Reds need midfielders and, with Chelsea looking to sign Enzo Fernandez for £106m and Kante’s contract at Stamford Bridge set to expire in the summer, his time with the Londoners could be coming to an end.
According to Catalan outlet El Nacional, via Football365, Klopp has asked FSG to sign the France international on a Bosman transfer in the summer as part of Liverpool’s planned midfield overhaul. They claim the World Cup winner is the ‘first signing they want’ and that the German both ‘believes that he would fit in perfectly at Anfield’ and is in ‘no doubt that the former Leicester City and Caen player is still a world-class star’.
A few years ago such a report, however speculative, would have left Kopites rather excited at such a thought. Kante was a world-class star, after all, and played a vital role in back-to-back Premier League wins with Leicester City and Chelsea, the Londoners’ Champions League win in 2021 and France’s World Cup triumph in 2018. Such efforts even saw him named Premier League Player of the Season, PFA Players' Player of the Year, and FWA Footballer of the Year in 2016/17, but such a campaign is now a long time ago.
While Kante is a world class player when fit, injuries have ultimately limited his impact in recent years. He missed the 2022 World Cup in Qatar because of a serious hamstring injury, and is only just back in training for Chelsea having been limited to just two appearances so far this season.
Meanwhile, in the past three seasons he has recorded just 21, 24 and 20 Premier League starts. While he’d still register more than 40 appearances in two of those three campaigns, it is some drop-off compared to his first four seasons in England where he was a virtual ever-present in starting XIs year after year.
Transfermarkt credits Kante as missing 94 games through injury and illness since joining Chelsea in a £32m deal from Leiceister in July 2016, with his current hamstring lay-off keeping him out for 31 games and counting. That equates to roughly 15 games a season, even when still registering more than 40 appearances in all but one of his campaigns in the capital prior to this year.
The 31-year-old has been a great Premier League player, and could still prove to be when he makes his latest return. But he’s also ageing and injuries are starting to stack up and take their toll. Liverpool already have enough players ticking those unwanted boxes in their midfield quota.
With Stefan Bajcetic’s emergence taking the Reds’ total of senior midfielders to 11, the Spaniard is a rare commodity at Anfield in contrast to the majority of Klopp’s options who are past their best and/or injury-prone. Meanwhile, in James Milner, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Juventus loanee Arthur Melo, Liverpool boast four midfielders not contracted to the club beyond the summer.
The Reds do need midfielders and a revamp is coming in 2023 as a result. With Jude Bellingham their first choice target, Liverpool will be hopeful such an overhaul helps rediscover their lost intensity and identity.
But while Kante is a player synonymous with the very attributes the Reds now desperately need to rediscover, he could just as easily become part of the current problems that continue to plague their squad. Namely, he's too old and injury-prone.
Having signed teenager Carney Chukwuemeka from Aston Villa in the summer and by potentially following it up by bringing Fernandez, players both linked with Liverpool, Chelsea are looking to the future as they initiate their own midfield overhaul. When the time comes, the Reds have to do the same.
There was a time when Kante would have been the answer to all their midfield woes. But, enjoying his best years at Stamford Bridge at a time when Chelsea had no intention of losing him to Liverpool and he had no desire to chase pastures new, he is now in the same boat as so many of the Reds’ own midfielders. Ultimately, that ship has long since sailed.
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