Florent Malouda has told Todd Boehly why Chelsea must tie N'Golo Kante to a new deal. The 31-year-old midfielder faces an increasingly uncertain future at Stamford Bridge with his contract set to expire in June.
However, while an agreement is yet to be reached, football.london understands that the Blues are very confident that Kante will commit his future to the west London outfit before he becomes a free agent in a few months time. It's believed that Chelsea are determined to extend the France international's stay, despite the France international having missed much of the season due to injury.
football.london understand that the Blues are adamant Kante can still play a big part in Graham Potter's future plans. Following the arrival of Enzo Fernandez in January, the Frenchman and the Argentine have been tipped to be a match made in heaven.
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Malouda stressed the importance of Kante's leadership qualities and personality among the squad, in addition to his footballing ability. In a glowing review, the former Chelsea winger also compared the midfielder to Claude Makelele.
"Like with [Mason] Mount, N’Golo Kante is important to Chelsea for other reasons and that’s what he represents to the club, what he gives to the team and the way the fans love him," Florent Malouda told DAZN Bet. "I think it is necessary to keep him at the club, not only as a player but maybe after his career.
"You can see he’s given his health for the club. When he was injured, you could see Chelsea were not the same. There’s also his personality, it’s important, he’s a role model we need to keep. He’s humble and ambitious, he sets an example for the other players.
"If I had to pick between Kante and Claude Makelele I would choose Makelele as I played with him. Kante is like Makelele 2.0. Makelele had the physical ability to support attacking players, but he had more discipline in releasing other players on the field. He was staying in this zone to help the team.
"Kante has physical abilities to be part of the counter-attack, necessary for modern football. So it’s hard to compare but Makelele was fitting for the game at the time. I look at football now and it’s so different, statistically, with the number of high-speed runs. I think Kante is really the evolution of Makelele."
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