Thomas Tuchel believes Chelsea should take into account N’Golo Kante’s poor harm report once they talk about a brand new contract with the France midfielder.
Kante has been essential to Premier League, Champions League and Europa League wins since arriving at Chelsea in 2016, incomes a popularity as one of many world’s most interesting midfield enforcers.
However the 2018 World Cup winner has been beset by harm woes in latest seasons, and was dominated out for “a number of weeks” after struggling a hamstring harm forward of final week’s 3-0 defeat at Leeds United.
Kante made no less than 34 Premier League begins in every of his first three seasons with Chelsea, however has failed to start out greater than 24 video games in every of his final three full campaigns.
With the 31-year-old having entered the ultimate 12 months of his contract with the membership, Tuchel acknowledges his health report is a long-term concern.
“You need to take into account every little thing that’s on the desk and on the desk is his potential, on the desk is his affect, and his high quality,” Tuchel stated forward of Saturday’s house league conflict with Leicester Metropolis.
“But in addition on the desk, after all, is his age, his wage and his harm price. From there you construct a complete image and attempt to discover a resolution.”
Chelsea have taken 4 factors from their first three video games of the Premier League season, and sorely missed Kante’s defensive self-discipline once they had been torn aside at Elland Highway final day out.
And Tuchel believes the midfielder’s lack of availability makes it troublesome for Chelsea to keep up a real title bid, including: “This can be a key query.
“We attempt to nevertheless it’s far more troublesome since you see the affect he has, you see the affect within the targets that we concede, the quantity of targets we rating, the quantity of factors that now we have, the quantity of targets he makes.
“He makes gamers merely higher round him. He offers one thing that may be very distinctive and don’t neglect, he additionally installs confidence that you simply can’t measure. That’s why he’s a key participant.
“However for the important thing gamers, it’s tremendous essential to be on the pitch and to have that affect and be within the rhythm.
“You’ll be able to depend the matches that he’s lacking, however what concerning the first two, three or 4 matches the place he must re-find rhythm? No one is counting these matches, so perhaps in actual life it’s much more than simply the matches he’s lacking.
“He comes again for the primary match from the bench and perhaps a second from the bench, after which the third one nonetheless battling confidence and rhythm.
“That is principally the story and, sure, now we have enormous hopes we are able to flip issues round, however this was a foul begin.”
