26-year old French midfielder N’Golo Kante is the latest player to fall on Paris Saint-Germain’s radar. The Qatari owners who have been splashing endless money across Europe to bring in top talents to Paris have identified N’Golo as a potential target to strengthen their midfield.
The French club spent a fortune in the summer to bring a host of world-class attacking talent in the form of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. However, after losing Blaise Matuidi and Grzegorz Krychowiak in the middle of the park, PSG will want to bring in some reinforcements.
Moreover, with Pastore keen to move on after falling down the pecking order at the club and Motta ageing fast, PSG’s only real players in the central midfield position are Marco Verratti and Adrien Rabiot.
Although exceptionally talented ball players, neither Verratti nor Rabiot are known for their tackling or defensive talent and PSG will need to feed in a player who will steady the backline and provide a platform ahead for the attacking men to flourish.
N’Golo Kante is tailor-made for such a position and PSG are looking to break the bank again by paying £90m to lure Kante away from the English Champions. Should the deal go through, it would make him the most expensive export from England, overtaking Gareth Bale’s £86m move from Tottenham to Real Madrid.
Should the English Champions lose their midfield dynamo they will need to bring in someone solid in to replace Kante.
Reports suggest that Chelsea have identified Serbian midfielder Mateo Kovacic as an ideal replacement. The 23-year old who currently plays for Real Madrid has found it difficult to break into the first-team on a regular basis. The likes of Toni Kroos, Luka Modric, Isco and Casemiro have been in tremendous form for Zinedine Zidane’s team. With first-team action looking hard to come by, Kovacic might want to snap up the opportunity to move to West London.
Chelsea showed considerable interest in the Serbian in the summer window but failed to sanction a move for him. Antonio Conte’s men ended up with Danny Drinkwater as a last-minute signing, instead.
Kovacic at the age of 23 has won seven trophies for Real. However, not being able to break into the first team with his best years ahead of him will frustrate the Serbian. He was predicted to be an exciting prospect with great potential to excel while playing for Inter Milan and will want to fulfil that prophecy. Will Chelsea be the likely place where he finally proves his mettle?
