After assessing new acquisition N’Golo Kante in training, Chelsea boss Antonio Conte has ruled the Frenchman’s playing style is quite similar to that of himself.
The Blues had signed Kante this summer transfer window, after the 25-year-old churned out impressive performances for Leicester City last season, helping the Foxes to their first ever Premier League title.
Kante also put in a good shift for France in the 2016 European Championships, helping Le Bleus reach the final of the tournament. Conte was quite impressed with the Frenchman, who had his first training session with the Blues on Friday.
“In my career I had great stamina and was a great runner. Also I scored some goals. I hope N’Golo can improve in this situation,” Conte was quoted as saying in Italian newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport. “Maybe we are similar but I know N’Golo can become a fantastic midfielder and he can improve a lot.
“We’re pleased to have N’Golo because he is a player who doesn’t speak a lot but he does his job. He’s a good guy, humble with a great will to work. This is very important to me. He’s in good physical condition, fantastic. He’s a runner. He has great stamina and endurance.”
Kante himself seems to have a lot of respect for his new manager, as he believes that the former Italy boss is one of the biggest reasons why he joined Chelsea this summer.
“At the beginning of the new season I chose to join Chelsea. It is a great club, which has just recruited a great coach and want to reach high ambitions I share. The club’s project and the coach’s speech have convinced me to join this new ambitious adventure,” said Kante, earlier this month.
Conte himself was an action-packed figure in his playing days in the 1990s and late 2000s at Juventus. The former Bianconeri captain possessed all the qualities to make him a complete midfielder. He had the technical ability to join the attackers in the final third, while he also had the ability to tackle hard and read the game well, which made him an ideal defensive midfielder.
However, the most important aspect of Conte’s game was the fact that he had great stamina, and could act as a box-to-box midfielder covering every inch of the pitch. This work ethic has seeped down to Conte’s managerial ideology as well.
The former Italy and Juventus manager prefers to use players with a high work rate rather than those who have flair. This was evident in the 23-man squad that he selected for the Italian national side ahead of the 2016 European Championships. He left a talented player like Lorenzo Insigne on the bench while fielding the likes of Graziano Pelle and Eder up front. Meanwhile, stars like striker Mario Balotelli and Giacomo Bonaventura were completely left out of his squad.
