According to The Daily Mail, both Newcastle and Arsenal could make summer bids for Caen midfielder N’golo Kante – who has been compared to former Chelsea and France enforcers Lassana Diarra and Claude Makelele.
The 24 year-old midfielder has been in fantastic form this season, grabbing two goals and four assists in 29 Ligue 1 appearances whilst averaging 4.9 tackles per match. The latter statistic is actually unrivaled throughout Europe’s five leading top flights, as recorded by Whoscored.com, with Udinese’s Allan a distant second.
And his form has lead Caen to the sturdy position of 14th in the Ligue 1 table, albeit just three points clear of the relegation one, after promotion from the French second tier last season, a campaign in which Kante performed an equally intrinsic role.
The Daily Mail rate him at a more than reasonable £5million, unsurprisingly linking him to the two Premier League clubs famed for their French-talent-based transfer policies – although Southampton have also been mooted as potential suitors.
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