Chelsea: Real Madrid have nothing to entice the Blues to sell N’Golo Kante

Some of Spain’s lesser media are pushing hard to gain traction for transfer rumours about N’Golo Kante going to Real Madrid. Even if Chelsea were willing to sell, Real have nothing to offer in return.

Despite the air of dysfunction and discord around Real Madrid this season, they are still in first place in La Liga. Perhaps Real watchers are concerned because they only lead Barcelona by two points, or because only six points separate first from eighth, or because only a few pounds separated Eden Hazard from Romelu Lukaku at the beginning of the season. Whatever the cause, the blanco side of Spanish media is really hoping they can entice Chelsea to part with N’Golo Kante.

The latest batch of rumours have Real offering Gareth Bale or James Rodriguez (give it time, maybe now it’s both) and about £75 million for one N’Golo Kante. Considering that neither player on offer replaces Kante or fills a need in Chelsea’s squad, and the Blues already have a substantial war chest from the Eden Hazard sale, Real Madrid are in no way making this deal enticing.

Kante is the one irreplaceable player at Stamford Bridge. Many of Chelsea’s deficiencies this season are most obvious when Kante is out of the XI, and his return instantly salves them, even if he does not fully solve all of them.

If Real Madrid or any other team think they can convince Chelsea to part with Kante, they have to offer something that addresses the problems he does, which would be exacerbated by his permanent absence.

The Blues’ only real needs this season are in Kante’s orbit: centre defence and defensive midfield. Kante is of course intrinsically very important, but also because of the team’s persistent shakiness at the back, the prolonged absence of Antonio Rudiger and the lack of another midfielder who can screen the back-line. If the Blues had a world-class centreback or a true defensive midfielder, they would need Kante less and could manage his departure.

The closest players Real have that would fit that bill are Raphael Varane and Eder Militao. The latter is only 21, though, so while he has the potential to be a world-class centreback he is not an immediate answer to the problem. Varane has not been mooted in any of these flimsy rumours, surely because Real would not want to part with him. They need Varane to transition the defence from Sergio Ramos to Militao over the next few seasons.

For Real to sell Varane, they would need a replacement as rare as the one they would need to provide for Kante. And even then, the transfer would not improve Chelsea, merely reshuffle their strengths and weaknesses.

Real have no one they could position as a direct replacement for Kante. Unless they want to broker some convoluted deal that would send Idrissa Gana Gueye or Blaise Matuidi to Stamford Bridge along with a lot of money, Los Blancos have nothing to offer the Blues’ midfield.

Even before Chelsea became the smartest team in football courtesy of Marina Gronovskaia’s summer dealings, selling Kante was never on the cards (probably).

Besides, after seeing what’s happened to Thibaut Courtois and Eden Hazard at Real, and hearing from Alvaro Morata and Mateo Kovacic about what that place is like, Kante knows the Bernabeu is no place for a proper Chelsea man like him.