I had to poke N’Golo Kante to see if he was real… Chelsea’s midfielder should be crowned PFA Player of the Year
Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Romelu Lukaku deserve recognition but the Frenchman has been unstoppable this campaign
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I WAS at the Chelsea training ground last week to see Eden Hazard and noticed N’Golo Kante wandering back to the changing rooms.
So I went over to him and stood in front of him. And I poked him in the chest.
I had to, just to check if he was real! “You are real, you are!” I said, and he laughed.
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Well, he may be real — but he’s certainly not normal.
And I see no reason why he shouldn’t be PFA Player of the Year at the end of the season.
It’s around now that the voting slips start to drop on the doormats of pros and there are loads of worthy candidates this time.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is banging them in for fun — at 35.
Alexis Sanchez is chipping in with goals and assists, Romelu Lukaku went into the weekend top of the scoring charts with 16.
Then there’s Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, Harry Kane and Dele Alli at Spurs and Kevin de Bruyne at City, who have had great seasons.
Barring a catastrophe, Chelsea will be champions so the winner will probably come from them.
Even if there’s a wobble at the Bridge, voting is done so early that the forms will be in by then.
There’s only really David Ginola in 1999, when United did the Treble, who bucks the trend of the champs providing the winner. Spurs finished 11th so it shows what an impact he had.
Zlatan deserves recognition but with United not challenging for the title, he’s less likely to get the nod. That’s not unfair, that’s life.
Hazard and Diego Costa will be on the tip of a lot people’s pens but so too should N’Golo.
It’s never usually his type of player who wins these awards. People pay to see Costa rattle them home or Hazard score goals like he did against Arsenal.
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Usually your Kante-type player goes relatively unnoticed. They are only missed when they’re not there. But Kante is so special, you DO notice him. He’s so good he must say to himself: “N’Golo, you go and I’ll cover!”
It’s an art to sense danger, to tackle, to intercept.
Kante reads mistakes before they’ve been made. He reads the bounce of the ball before the ball knows where it’s going!
People talk about a striker’s sixth sense in the area. N’Golo has that all over the park. It’s why Chelsea are unstoppable.
He is everywhere, his stats are amazing: Top of tackles, interceptions, distance run . . . I reckon he could ref the game too.
He has zero flaws. I keep thinking, surely he’s going to lose the ball this week? Nope. Or get angry and argue with the ref? Nope. Maybe he’ll be tired? Nope.
When I won the award in 2003 and 2004, deep down I knew Patrick Vieira deserved it as much as me, if not more.
Kante is different to Pat but his effect on the game is as strong. Pat could do anything: Tackle, get important goals, head in corners.
He scored against Charlton when he dummied the keeper with a right-foot stepover before dinking it over him with his left. Wow! Yet he never won the PFA award.
Where Kante and Pat are similar is that they both go after the ball. They are not content to sit and break up play in the middle.
The awards go to the guys who score or assist. But is it not time to acknowledge that it’s not just about that? That great defenders, keepers and midfielders are vital?
Kante had two blinding games in a week against Liverpool and Arsenal. If he starts scoring and improving his final ball, phew!
Then you would have your two holding midfielders and your No 10 rolled into one.
People pay to see Hazard score crazy goals but it’s not just about that, it’s about what N’Golo does too. Why not hand him the trophy?