N’Golo Kante’s two goals for Chelsea produced some of the most heart-warming scenes of the season. However, those hid the truth about Kante’s one-man reign of fear in the locker room.
N’Golo Kante is the leading contender for the PFA Player of the Year. His indefatigable play in midfield has left commentators at a loss for words, Antonio Conte at a loss for criticism and opposing players at a loss of the ball. Kante’s quiet, modest demeanor only adds to his stature as one of the game’s most remarkable players.
All that, though, hides one of the more disturbing aspects of Chelsea’s otherwise stellar campaign. According to many of Kante’s teammates, the diminutive Frenchman is a violent bully on the training ground. He is prone to outbursts of rage and destruction of property. Many players report that he is not averse to threats and intimidation, sometimes extending to the players’ home lives.
He’s like something out of a gangster movie. – Victor Moses
Cesar Azpilicueta is, like Kante, widely respected for his hard-work and discipline. Azpilicueta’s gentle reminders about training to the younger players on social media come across as a sign of his leadership and mentoring. Azpilicueta explains a much different motivation.
“I just can’t bear to see N’Golo lay into the young lads any more. If he sees Snaps of them out on the town or just doing what lads do, the next morning he….,” Azpilicueta said as he broke down sobbing.
The Spanish defender tries to cover for the young players. He sometimes tells Kante that they went out on his urging, hoping Kante will direct his wrath at him instead of Ola Aina and the others.
Azpilicueta’s countryman, Diego Costa, was reluctant to speak on the record. He did so only after verifying that he would be on an early morning flight to a safe-house in China. “The world thinks they know N’Golo Kante, that he’s some kind of talisman for this club. They don’t know anything.”
I’d feel safer playing against a team of 11 under-fed Luis Suarez’s than going to one more training session with N’Golo Kante. – Branislav Ivanovic
“Do you know why Michy Batshuayi isn’t playing?” Costa asked. “He’s terrified. Michy made a few mistakes during 7v7 in training one day back in October. When he got home, N’Golo was in his flat. N’Golo made Michy watch as he cut the legs off of every SpongeBob SquarePants in the whole place.”
“Michy doesn’t want to find out what would happen if he made a mistake in the Premier League. When I got injured, Michy begged Antonio not to play him. He begged Eden to do that whole false-nine thing just so he wouldn’t be out there with N’Golo.”
The only thing that appeases Kante is his teammates’ effusive praise. The gleeful hugs after his goals and the glowing testimonials in the press are the extortion Kante demands.
The players we spoke to hope that having all this out in the open will preclude Kante from seeking revenge. By all indications, though, Antonio Conte may be working through a raft of ill-defined training ground injuries in the coming days.
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Kante would only respond via his agent, who told us “The only thing that angers N’Golo Kante more than a Liverpool player with the ball are people who believe what they read on April Fool’s Day.”