Chelsea are looking at PSV midfielder Ibrahim Sangare.
That is according to Sky Sports, who report that the 24-year-old has a €35m (£29.9m) release clause, and he is set on moving to England.
Chelsea and Manchester United are interested, while Liverpool and Newcastle have been linked to the Ivory Coast international.
Sky Sports have suggested that the £21.6m-rated defensive midfield monster is viewed by Thomas Tuchel as cover and a potential replacement for N’Golo Kante, who only has a year left on his contract.
With that in mind, how does Sangare compare to the 31-year-old?
N’Golo Kante
The France international is viewed as one of the best midfielders in the world, and the stats suggest that this is still the case.
The 2021 UEFA Men’s Midfielder of the Year is known for his ball-recovery skills, having made the most tackles per game out of anyone in the west London team that has made more than five appearances.
The former Leicester player also contributes going forwards. He is in the top 10% of midfielders in Europe’s top five leagues for assists, progressive passes, and progressive carries.
Last summer he was praised by England legend Wayne Rooney, who called the £45m-rated maestro the “ultimate team player” and compare him to Yaya Toure and Claude Makelele.
“France have perhaps the ultimate team player in Kante. In the Champions League final, he gave the perfect performance.
“He does everything: breaks up play but then plays in tight areas and starts off the attack. You used to see it with Yaya Toure, how he would get the ball and burst forward with it and it is so hard to defend against. Kante does all that but also protects his defence like Claude Makelele once did — only better.
“For me, he is the best midfielder in the world.”
Ibrahim Sangare
The 6 foot 3 midfield general has had a very impressive season in the Netherlands.
Only six players in the whole Eredivisie averaged a higher WhoScored league rating than the former Toulouse man.
He is also the league’s leader in his position for passes, and is in the top three for tackles and duels, as per Sky Sports.
His performances has caused former PSV manager Aad de Mos to proclaim him the “king of PSV”.
“He is extraordinary; this season, he has been the king of PSV. You only miss Sangaré when he’s not playing.
“I think he is a good player who would be first on the board with any of those teams. You need someone like that who takes a ball and always has the tip of his shoe somewhere in between. And lately he also becomes dangerous towards the goal of the opponent.”
In the league alone, Sangare has more tackles (3.3 vs 2.3), interceptions (2.6 vs 1.2), and dribbles per game (1.6 vs 1.3) than Kante, although the £290k-per-week star makes more key passes (0.8 vs 0.9).
Our Verdict
Something that needs to be considered is that at 31, Kante can only continue playing at an elite level for so long, and there are signs beginning to show that the Boulogne academy graduate is starting to decline.
The World Cup winner has missed 16 games this season due to injury, and has not started 25 league matches since 2019.
For context, the last time Sangare failed to start at least 25 games in any league campaign was in 2016-17, when he was just 19.
With Kante’s main midfield partner Jorginho now 30, Chelsea really need fresh legs in the centre of the park, something that the PSV man can provide in abundance.
AND in other news, Tuchel looking to replace Rudiger with Chelsea swoop for £36m-rated “phenomenal talent”…
