Fabrizio Romano is taking up the story N’Golo Kante’s departure from Chelsea, which appears to be closing in fast.
The midfielder is meeting with the representatives of Saudi clubs in London today according to the transfer insider, with both Al Ittihad and Al Nassr sending delegations to the capital to speak to him, now that his contract has expired.
There are some interesting wrinkles even within the Tweet – it claims that a deal was close in March, which it certainly felt like. Kante’s priority has always been to stay in London with Chelsea, and it really seemed a formality at one point.
But when you let players’ contracts wind down to nothing you expose yourself to this sort of this, and the eye watering financial offers the Saudi teams can make will dwarf anything Chelsea are willing to offer a player who has proven to be unable to stay fit for a whole season in recent years.
Romano mentions figures of €100m including image rights – those figures are just beyond our reach for a player we can’t count on all season.
Not long after we thought we were getting another year or two, it seems like Kante is out of the picture for good. That creates a huge gap in our midfield, especially with other departures expected. Perhaps two new signings will now be required to reinstate a solid group for the season to come.