It’s been a dream season for N'Golo Kante. Since his under-the-radar £5.6m summer move from Caen, he has taken Leicester to the brink ...
It’s been a dream season for N'Golo Kante. Since his under-the-radar £5.6m summer move from Caen, he has taken Leicester to the brink of the Premier League title, been hailed as one of the game’s best midfielders and yesterday he received his first call-up to the France squad. But the party had to come to an end sooner or later, and now it has: Chelsea want to buy him.
The Mirror reports that the Blues will launch a “stunning bid” for the 24-year-old this summer, although it’s unclear what will make it more stunning than the average bid. The tabloid says Chelsea want Kante because he is “comparable to former Blues and France anchorman Claude Makelele”. Because Makelele was always running at full speed with the ball towards the opposition penalty area, wasn’t he?
For their part, the Foxes are trying to persuade Kante to sign a lucrative long-term contract. Plus they can probably offer him Champions League football whereas Chelsea can’t.
And this could be a running theme as Antonio Conte, the man widely tipped to replace Guus Hiddink, sets about revamping this season’s struggling squad. The Telegraph says he also wants to sign Italian centre-half Leonardo Bonucci, who still has four years of his Juventus contract to run. And the Sun adds that the Blues have already failed with a £26m bid for Roma defender Kostas Manolas, but they could get him if they pay £35m.
Another man heavily linked with Chelsea in recent weeks, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is instead going to Arsenal today. The Mirror claims that the big Swede has been “offered” to the Gunners and that Arsene Wenger “must decide whether signing the 34-year-old next month would be a good option”.
It seems odd that Zlatan is apparently putting himself on a plate for Mr Wenger in this way, but according to the Mirror he would quite like to live in London. Until next week, when he will doubtless be on the brink of a move to Manchester United.
The Gunners are also being tipped by a website called Football Insider to make a move for £74m-rated Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain.
Which might sound like pie in the sky, but Football Insider makes it very clear that the story is brought to you by “Wayne Veysey, Former Evening Standard, Press Association and Goal chief correspondent with 17 years experience of breaking big stories, including exclusives like this”.
Impressive. So let’s hope it comes off, because otherwise Wayne Veysey’s reputation will be in absolute tatters.
Elsewhere, Man Utd are interested in 18-year-old Santos midfielder Thiago Maia (Express), Man City target David Alaba is in talks about a new Bayern Munich contract (Manchester Evening News) and Pep Guardiola has ordered his new employers to put Vincent Kompany up for sale (Sun).
He evidently prefers Mangala, Otamendi and Demichelis
The Mirror reports that the Blues will launch a “stunning bid” for the 24-year-old this summer, although it’s unclear what will make it more stunning than the average bid. The tabloid says Chelsea want Kante because he is “comparable to former Blues and France anchorman Claude Makelele”. Because Makelele was always running at full speed with the ball towards the opposition penalty area, wasn’t he?
For their part, the Foxes are trying to persuade Kante to sign a lucrative long-term contract. Plus they can probably offer him Champions League football whereas Chelsea can’t.
And this could be a running theme as Antonio Conte, the man widely tipped to replace Guus Hiddink, sets about revamping this season’s struggling squad. The Telegraph says he also wants to sign Italian centre-half Leonardo Bonucci, who still has four years of his Juventus contract to run. And the Sun adds that the Blues have already failed with a £26m bid for Roma defender Kostas Manolas, but they could get him if they pay £35m.
Another man heavily linked with Chelsea in recent weeks, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, is instead going to Arsenal today. The Mirror claims that the big Swede has been “offered” to the Gunners and that Arsene Wenger “must decide whether signing the 34-year-old next month would be a good option”.
It seems odd that Zlatan is apparently putting himself on a plate for Mr Wenger in this way, but according to the Mirror he would quite like to live in London. Until next week, when he will doubtless be on the brink of a move to Manchester United.
The Gunners are also being tipped by a website called Football Insider to make a move for £74m-rated Napoli striker Gonzalo Higuain.
Which might sound like pie in the sky, but Football Insider makes it very clear that the story is brought to you by “Wayne Veysey, Former Evening Standard, Press Association and Goal chief correspondent with 17 years experience of breaking big stories, including exclusives like this”.
Impressive. So let’s hope it comes off, because otherwise Wayne Veysey’s reputation will be in absolute tatters.
Elsewhere, Man Utd are interested in 18-year-old Santos midfielder Thiago Maia (Express), Man City target David Alaba is in talks about a new Bayern Munich contract (Manchester Evening News) and Pep Guardiola has ordered his new employers to put Vincent Kompany up for sale (Sun).
He evidently prefers Mangala, Otamendi and Demichelis