Date: 25th June 2019 at 5:50am
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N’golo Kante.

Back-to-back Premier League winner and World Cup winner, the Frenchman has left his mark on world football in just four short years. Going from the depths of Ligue 2 to the peak of world football, and arguably becoming one of the football’s best in his position is no mean feat.

However, it seems former boss Mauricio Sarri didn’t particularly care about such trivial matters when he joined Chelsea, making Jorginho the clubs deep-lying playmaker in the defensive midfield position. The move is one of the key reasons Chelsea fans turned on the stubborn Italian before he even had a chance to prove himself to the Stamford Bridge faithful. To have one of the best defensive midfielders in world football at your disposal only to bin him off for someone who lacks any defensive nous was a horrible choice from Sarri.

With Frank Lampard seemingly only days away from being appointed the new Chelsea manager, according to TalkSport, his first move has to be to introduce Kante back into his defensive midfield role. Lampard needs to recognise that with Kante in front of Chelsea’s defence, the team will be much stronger.

Chelsea conceded 56 goals in all competitions last season, and with Kante playing further forward, you can’t help but think that was one of the reasons the club failed defensively. No away win at any of the current top six away from home are examples of game where the club could’ve fared better defensively if Kante was playing in the defensive midfield role instead of Jorginho. And the stats show that Kante is far more superior defensively than his Brazilian counterpart.

Given Kante spent last season playing in a role further forward, it would be crazy to compare the two players. So, taking Kante’s 2017/2018 season and Jorginho’s 2018/2019  and comparing the two defensive statistics would be smarter. It’s not pretty reading for Jorginho, who is trumped in every department bar clearances per game. And bear in mind Chelsea struggled more in the 2017/2018 season, finishing outside the top four and only reaching one cup final, as opposed to the success of last season, where the club reached two cup finals and finished in the top four.

Kante is a better defensive player than Jorginho, and according to statistics, that is a fact. To limit your own team by playing a forward-thinking player like Jorginho in defensive midfield was a huge fault of Sarri. Lampard is due to be appointed Chelsea manager, and his first duty needs to be to instil Kante back in his natural defensive midfield role, and provide the defence will the solidity it needs.

 

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