Can Chelsea Afford Kante Gamble Amid Injury Travails?

Chelsea star N’Golo Kante is facing an uncertain future at Stamford Bridge. Even though the Frenchman is world-class, he has also become rather injury-prone in recent seasons.

Kante has already missed 14 games this season due to injury and is yet to play under new manager Graham Potter, who joined the club in September this year. With that, Chelsea will strongly consider whether it is worth extending Kante’s deal, which is worth about £290,000-a-week, making him one of the club’s highest earners.

At Chelsea, Kante has won every major trophy, except the Carabao Cup, but increasingly injuries have stopped him being fit and available for selection.

This will be his worst season of injuries, which have become a problem for the midfielder ever since he played in the 2019 Europa League Final with injections in his knee.

From the outside, it is hard to understand who to blame for his injuries or whether his fitness struggles result from wear and tear.

His fitness issues come at a time when Chelsea are renegotiating his contract, which currently puts him among the highest earners.

They are reluctant to offer him a long-term deal having seen his body break down in recent years.

Kante loves Chelsea and London so ideally wants to stay, but only on terms he is happy with.

If an agreement can’t be reached, these could be the sad end days of the Chelsea career of a player who will go down as a legend at Stamford Bridge.

The future of Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante is unclear, as the Frenchman enters the final months of his contract at Stamford Bridge, with talks of a renewal ongoing but not positive.

Few days ago, Chelsea confirmed that Kante’s surgery to repair his hamstring was successful and that he will miss about four months, ruling him out of France’s World Cup campaign, and raising questions over his Chelsea future.

The 31-year-old has been involved in great successes for Chelsea over the years, including Premier League in 2017, FA Cup in 2018, Europa League in 2019, and the Champions League in 2021.

Chelsea has identified that and has made a contract proposal: two years on reduced terms, but Kante is stalling, which has caught the interest of clubs like Barcelona and Juventus.

Over the last year or so, Kante’s injury record has meant that he is no longer a crucial player for them and that the Blues can either function without him, or find a way to work without him.

Chelsea took a big risk in going into the season with a midfielder with a flawed fitness record, and they will be looking to rectify that error in the January transfer window by signing another player.

While Kante may not be given the terms he wants, if he leaves Chelsea, he will go down as one of their most vital players in recent times, and his contributions to their second Champions League success won’t be forgotten.

He is one of this generation’s finest midfielders, having won nearly everything there is to win for club and country, and his quick rise and peak between 2016 and 2021 was a joy to witness.

Chelsea themselves are going for a new approach – they have a vision to integrate younger talent as part of “Vision 2030”, which will also see them make the best use of academy players they have coming through.

If they want to pursue that, keeping Kante on with his fitness record and maintaining his status as one of the club’s high earners would be far from ideal.

Can Chelsea afford to keep Kante amid his injury woes and renew his contract or let him go at the end of the season?

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