Injured: N’Golo Kante
(Picture: Chelsea FC via Getty Images)The severity of N’Golo Kante’s injury is now known and it is not good news.
Chelsea confirmed last night that the 31-year-old has undergone surgery to repair his hamstring and will be out for four months.
The decision to go down the surgical route was mutually agreed between the player and the club after they visited specialists over the weekend.
It means Chelsea will be without their star midfielder, who has been a talismanic presence in their engine room since joining in 2016, until after the World Cup.
At Chelsea, Kante has won every major trophy, except the Carabao Cup, but increasingly injuries have stopped him being fit and available for selection.
New manager Graham Potter has yet to pick a team with Kante in it. He has missed 14 matches already this season and will not be back until February at the earliest.
This will be his worst season of injuries, which have become a problem for the midfielder ever since he played in the 2019 Europa League Final with injections in his knee.
Chelsea beat Arsenal 4-1 in Baku that night but his team-mates were stunned that he was able to complete 90 minutes in an all-star display.
Kante went from completing 4185 minutes under Maurizio Sarri that season to just 2303 under Frank Lampard the following campaign.
From the outside, it is hard to understand who to blame for his injuries or whether his fitness struggles result from wear and tear.
Chelsea have, though, seen reports that show they had more injuries than any other club in the Premier League last season.
Their new owners have made sweeping changes to the medical team, moving on medical director Paco Biosca and head physiotherapist Thierry Laurent.
Potter has admitted the injury record at Stamford Bridge last season is a concern.
"I don't think you should blame everything on luck that's for sure," said Potter, who has also lost Reece James and Wesley Fofana injuries that will keep them out until next year.
"I think we can have a look and see what we can do better. Obviously, I've been here a few weeks so I haven't got the answers completely.
“But clearly, we want to always try to improve and that's an area that we can probably improve."
It must be said that Chelsea are increasingly getting used to the absence of Kante, as Ruben Loftus-Cheek and Conor Gallagher grow in the space he has left and with Jorginho and Mateo Kovacic also available.
His fitness issues come at a time when Chelsea are renegotiating his contract, which currently puts him among the highest earners on £290,000-a-week.
They are reluctant to offer him a long-term deal having seen his body break down in recent years.
A two-year contract on reduced terms is on the table but he is reluctant to sign it, with Barcelona and Juventus said to be interested in him.
Kante loves Chelsea and London so ideally wants to stay, but only on terms he is happy with.
If an agreement can’t be reached, these could be the sad end days of the Chelsea career of a player who will go down as a legend at Stamford Bridge.
