N'Golo Kante - Confirmed - £32m to Chelsea

[Captain...]

20 minutes ago, One Ranieri said:

 

According to reports though, he's not exactly earning much more by going to Chelsea. Sure there's the signing bonus but PSG and Juve would've been comparable wouldn't they?

 

I think some people just want to say it's money to make Kante look bad which is a bit unfair. You talk about the Champions League but out of Juventus, PSG and Chelsea, who has won it most recently?

 

Chelsea have been competing for titles since Kante was a young boy. He's seen players he's probably looked up to go there and win trophies consistently. 

 

Is there even the possibility that he thinks going to a club like Chelsea is progressing his career?

Who is more likely to win it next season, or the season after or after that? There is nothing to suggest Chelsea will finish above Arsenal, Man United, Man City, Spurs, Liverpool, us West Ham etc. Conte has a huge job on his hands to get that team functioning again, first he needs to assess his squad, he needs to adjust from being an international manager then he needs to get them functioning (despite the majority of them not even back after  the Euros). Hiddink got them to be ok by putting a big arm around them all and telling them they were great players, Conte will shout at them and can be just as divisive as Mourinho. I expect Chelsea to improve next season, but I also expect all the other clubs to improve. I can't see them making up 6 places Conte is not in the same league as Jose or Pep, Klopp has had time to mould his side and Wenger, Poch, Claudio and Bilic know exactly what to do and what needs to be done with their teams.

[Babylon]

24 minutes ago, One Ranieri said:

 

Is there even the possibility that he thinks going to a club like Chelsea is progressing his career?

Of course there is, long term I'm sure everyone is realistic enough to know it's the better bet to win stuff. It's the timing of it that's all, we all felt like we were on to something special and people just wanted another 6 /12 months from the players to give it another shot.

 

There is a belief here that if we kept the best players and bought in some more good ones, we could show that it wasn't the "freak" season everyone loves to paint it as...  now we'll never know. If he'd gone at Christmas after we went out in the champs league, then I think he'd have gone with peoples blessing.

 

People talk of career progression, he's just won the league, got champions league football, become a starter for his country in the space of a year. The realistic aim this year for Chelsea is to get champions league football again after such a disaster last season... he has that now. For one year alone, it's a backwards step... he could have waited 12 months and taken a forward one.

 

 

[One Ranieri]

9 minutes ago, Captain... said:

Who is more likely to win it next season, or the season after or after that? There is nothing to suggest Chelsea will finish above Arsenal, Man United, Man City, Spurs, Liverpool, us West Ham etc. Conte has a huge job on his hands to get that team functioning again, first he needs to assess his squad, he needs to adjust from being an international manager then he needs to get them functioning (despite the majority of them not even back after  the Euros). Hiddink got them to be ok by putting a big arm around them all and telling them they were great players, Conte will shout at them and can be just as divisive as Mourinho. I expect Chelsea to improve next season, but I also expect all the other clubs to improve. I can't see them making up 6 places Conte is not in the same league as Jose or Pep, Klopp has had time to mould his side and Wenger, Poch, Claudio and Bilic know exactly what to do and what needs to be done with their teams.

 

According to the bookies, Chelsea are third favourites at the moment.

 

In my opinion, they've got a top quality coach in and they've got a squad of players who won the league just over a year ago who underperformed last season. They've already rectified one of the biggest flaws they had last season (energy in midfield) and also weakened a rival at the same time. 

 

I don't know if they'll challenge for the title immediately next season but anything could happen. City, United and Chelsea have all replaced their coaches and all have work to do. Klopp has his feet under the table and Pocchetino will be looking to repeat last season's success so anything could happen.

 

But I think you have to recognise that last season for Chelsea was something of an outlier in the context of the last decade and if you're a professional like Kante, they are still an attractive proposition. 

[sm1]

31 minutes ago, One Ranieri said:

 

According to reports though, he's not exactly earning much more by going to Chelsea. Sure there's the signing bonus but PSG and Juve would've been comparable wouldn't they?

 

I think some people just want to say it's money to make Kante look bad which is a bit unfair. You talk about the Champions League but out of Juventus, PSG and Chelsea, who has won it most recently?

 

Chelsea have been competing for titles since Kante was a young boy. He's seen players he's probably looked up to go there and win trophies consistently. 

 

Is there even the possibility that he thinks going to a club like Chelsea is progressing his career?

Not earning much more.... he has been quoted as earning between 20-50,000 per week more, thats between 1-2.5 million more per year. That's the reason he left the champions of England for a mid table team. He's a mercenary, plain and simple.

Some people may think there's nothing wrong in this, football careers being short, but please don't deny the guy left for money.

[One Ranieri]

2 minutes ago, sm1 said:

Not earning much more.... he has been quoted as earning between 20-50,000 per week more, thats between 1-2.5 million more per year. That's the reason he left the champions of England for a mid table team. He's a mercenary, plain and simple.

Some people may think there's nothing wrong in this, football careers being short, but please don't deny the guy left for money.

 

He passed up £5.2 million to take an offer of £6 million if you believe the reports. Do I think he's gone just for the £800,000 extra? I'm more than happy for you to think me naive but I don't think so.

 

You can say he's left the Champions of England for a mid-table team, but the truth is he's left Leicester for Chelsea. 12 months ago that wouldn't have raised any eyebrows and in most of the footballing world it still doesn't.

 

What that means is that the league title win might not mean as much as you think it does (in fact I'd say Chelsea's implosion last season would be more of a factor) and that the hierarchy of football isn't based on short-term success but on long-term sustained competitiveness.

 

At the end of the day, he's left to join a bigger club. It's frustrating but that's what footballers have generally done throughout my lifetime.

[sm1]

1 minute ago, One Ranieri said:

 

He passed up £5.2 million to take an offer of £6 million if you believe the reports. Do I think he's gone just for the £800,000 extra? I'm more than happy for you to think me naive but I don't think so.

 

You can say he's left the Champions of England for a mid-table team, but the truth is he's left Leicester for Chelsea. 12 months ago that wouldn't have raised any eyebrows and in most of the footballing world it still doesn't.

 

What that means is that the league title win might not mean as much as you think it does (in fact I'd say Chelsea's implosion last season would be more of a factor) and that the hierarchy of football isn't based on short-term success but on long-term sustained competitiveness.

 

At the end of the day, he's left to join a bigger club. It's frustrating but that's what footballers have generally done throughout my lifetime.

12 moths ago maybe not, but now it does, because he left a team moving up for a team moving in the oppostion direction. Reports vary from 120k to 150K a week more, whatever the case, much more then our 100k offer.

[foxes_rule1978]

I'm surprised he didn't want to stay for just one more season at least, giving what we achieved last season. Yes, he moved to a bigger club but he is young and could have made that very move next season if we didn't maintain our rise. Plus we have champions league, so will remain in the spotlight

[One Ranieri]

1 minute ago, sm1 said:

12 moths ago maybe not, but now it does, because he left a team moving up for a team moving in the oppostion direction. Reports vary from 120k to 150K a week more, whatever the case, much more then our 100k offer.

 

I think it takes more than one season to say that though. 

 

Look at someone like Eden Hazard. He carried that Chelsea team when they won the league but seemed to have fitness and form issues last season. Does that mean he's done as a player or do you say that he had one bad season because of a number of factors and that you'd expect him to get back to his best (which he seemed to be doing during the Euros) next year?

 

Teams like Bayern Munich and Juventus have both had poor seasons where they failed to qualify for the Champions League in fairly recent history. Both arguably came back stronger. That will probably be the vision sold to Kante by the man who led Juventus to 3 Serie A titles after they finished in mid-table.

[jit]

Thanks for the memories Kante. 

 

I won't be bitter towards him though. To be fair he gave the ball away as much as he won it back, the Euros showed at European level he will be punished for some of his challenges (yellow carded). Maybe him moving for £32m was a sign he knew he wouldn't get his "big" move again as he didn't have faith in his own ability or team to show or put a good performance in the league or CL. Maybe he isn't really that good?

 

Would rather we lost Kante to Kasper, Drinky, Mahrez or Vardy. We missed Esteban, like we will miss Kante. But I trust our recruitment team and will back Mendy to be just as good hopefully better.

 

My only ill feeling towards him is staying in the PL and I haven't read him publically thanking his team mates, club or fans etc.

 

 

[Captain...]

3 minutes ago, jit said:

Thanks for the memories Kante. 

 

I won't be bitter towards him though. To be fair he gave the ball away as much as he won it back, the Euros showed at European level he will be punished for some of his challenges (yellow carded). Maybe him moving for £32m was a sign he knew he wouldn't get his "big" move again as he didn't have faith in his own ability or team to show or put a good performance in the league or CL. Maybe he isn't really that good?

 

Would rather we lost Kante to Kasper, Drinky, Mahrez or Vardy. We missed Esteban, like we will miss Kante. But I trust our recruitment team and will back Mendy to be just as good hopefully better.

 

My only ill feeling towards him is staying in the PL and I haven't read him publically thanking his team mates, club or fans etc.

 

 

 

He did mention the fans saying he will never forget them in his instagram post, but he doesn't seem to have had a press conference or anything in depth yet.

 

He did give the ball away, although I'm sure that he only did it sometimes just to win it back, and I will really miss watching him play because he was just a ball of energy and smiles, I do think he might not fit at Chelsea, Conte is a disciplinarian and very organised, he may not stand for Kante being sloppy in possession and chasing around after the ball. It isn't a very Italian way. Positionally he isn't the best, he looked lost at times early on when he was asked to come on and do something other than chase the ball. Testament to King Claudio that he identified his strengths and minimised his weaknesses by giving him simple instructions and letting Danny command the midfield.

[sm1]

9 minutes ago, One Ranieri said:

 

I think it takes more than one season to say that though. 

 

Look at someone like Eden Hazard. He carried that Chelsea team when they won the league but seemed to have fitness and form issues last season. Does that mean he's done as a player or do you say that he had one bad season because of a number of factors and that you'd expect him to get back to his best (which he seemed to be doing during the Euros) next year?

 

Teams like Bayern Munich and Juventus have both had poor seasons where they failed to qualify for the Champions League in fairly recent history. Both arguably came back stronger. That will probably be the vision sold to Kante by the man who led Juventus to 3 Serie A titles after they finished in mid-table.

Whether Eden gets his form back is just conjecture, just like Conte maybe, could win the title with Chelsea. The fact is Kante was offered more money to move from the champions of England. Thats the only vision Chelsea and Conte had to show him.

[ST20]

I'd want Chelsea to fail even if Kante hadn't gone there.

[One Ranieri]

3 minutes ago, sm1 said:

Whether Eden gets his form back is just conjecture, just like Conte maybe, could win the title with Chelsea. The fact is Kante was offered more money to move from the champions of England. Thats the only vision Chelsea and Conte had to show him.

 

I can no more argue with that than you can prove it, but he was offered £5.2 million to stay with the Champions of England and he took £6 million to move to a team that finished tenth.

 

If it was just about the money then he probably should've asked for more.

[possiblygeorge]

21 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

I'm surprised he didn't want to stay for just one more season at least, giving what we achieved last season. Yes, he moved to a bigger club but he is young and could have made that very move next season if we didn't maintain our rise. Plus we have champions league, so will remain in the spotlight

I think it has to do with himself.

 

Let me elaborate for everyone. Those that are certain starters, or almost certain starters, you will find will leave this transfer window?

 

Why you ask? Not because they think we'll 'flop', but because they want to take the extra coin incase THEY flop. Why risk gambling one more season getting injured or playing a Sunday League player when you can take the cash and run and flop somewhere else for the next 4-5 years and get paid for it?

 

You won't get sold, because if you do you have to payout the rest of the contract payment.

 

Boom, mind blown. Clearly Kante doesn't have much faith in himself, it's a sense of security. 

[Webbo]

19 minutes ago, One Ranieri said:

 

I can no more argue with that than you can prove it, but he was offered £5.2 million to stay with the Champions of England and he took £6 million to move to a team that finished tenth.

 

If it was just about the money then he probably should've asked for more.

Even if your figures are correct, 800,000 isn't exactly pocket change.

[purpleronnie]

wouldn't he also get a large signing on fee?

 

[Captain...]

There is every possibility that Kante just wasn't happy at the club, I said this in another thread, we signed Amartey in Jan and Mendy in June, they can both play the Kante role, I think Claudio has known for a while the Kante wants to leave and has been preparing for it, possibly the players too. There wereno pleas for him to stay like we had with Vardy and Claudio always said he didn't want unhappy players. Something or someone could have made Kante unhappy, be it the city, the location, someone in the club, the fans, the other players, the culture within the club.

 

The only problem with that theory is that he always looked so happy on the pitch, but the fact that he jumped at the first offer, when he could have had his pick of clubs and probably earned a lot more, felt like he just wanted out.

[shen]

2 hours ago, Fox96 said:

That is so cynical - Le Havre/Caen/Fleetwood hadn't just won the top division and were in the Champions League like we are. Three completely different scenarios.

My point is, it's mostly about the money anyway. Do you really think these players didn't move/stay here for the superior money we could offer? Ritchie has just ditched Prem football to join Newcastle. Same thing, bigger club more money. No-one seems to complain when we can get national team captains to join relegation candidates from reputable clubs in other leagues.

 

2 hours ago, AKCJ said:

 

Why do you always get smart arses like this?

 

Vardy, Mahrez and Kante came to us to progress their careers.

 

Kante has gone to Chelsea to get the money, it's that simple. He could have got to the likes of PSG, Juve etc for plenty enough money and have furthered his career by reaching the latter stages of the Champions League continually.

You cannot be that naïve. Do you think Vardy and Mahrez aren't in it for the money at this stage of their careers? People getting worked up that he moved for money do not have their heads on straight. It's what the majority of people would do given the opportunity. Do you think Vardy would have stayed had the club not offered improved terms?

[AKCJ]

1 hour ago, shen said:

You cannot be that naïve. Do you think Vardy and Mahrez aren't in it for the money at this stage of their careers? People getting worked up that he moved for money do not have their heads on straight. It's what the majority of people would do given the opportunity. Do you think Vardy would have stayed had the club not offered improved terms?

I don't think Vardy's in it for the money. That's pretty obvious considering what has happened regarding Arsenal.

 

Kante has taken a big step back in his career for money, it's that simple and that obvious.

 

Neither Vardy nor Mahrez have done that before in their careers and neither look like doing it in the future.

[goose2010]

Just now, AKCJ said:

I don't think Vardy's in it for the money. That's pretty obvious considering what has happened regarding Arsenal.

 

Kante has taken a big step back in his career for money, it's that simple and that obvious.

 

Neither Vardy nor Mahrez have done that before in their careers and neither look like doing it in the future.

Sometimes you have to take one step back to go two steps forward.

 

I honestly cant understand why people think he has made the wrong move? Its annoying and extremely frustrating but that's football a bigger club comes along that want you and want to pay you more what are you going to do?

[AKCJ]

Just now, goose2010 said:

Sometimes you have to take one step back to go two steps forward.

 

I honestly cant understand why people think he has made the wrong move? Its annoying and extremely frustrating but that's football a bigger club comes along that want you and want to pay you more what are you going to do?

Kante could have joined any club in the world.

 

He's gone to a direct rival that's not even in the Europa League let alone the Champions League purely for the money.

 

Chelsea aren't even in the top 10 of "big clubs" in the world.

 

There's 4 in this division that are bigger than them, for a start.

[One Ranieri]

9 minutes ago, AKCJ said:

 

Chelsea aren't even in the top 10 of "big clubs" in the world.

 

There's 4 in this division that are bigger than them, for a start.

 

I'm not sure I agree with there being 10 clubs bigger than them for starters because I'm not sure what criteria you're using.

 

But which 4 clubs are bigger than them in this division? If it's the 4 I'd guess at, one hasn't won a league in almost three decades, two have never won the European Cup and only one earns more in sponsorship fees (kit or club) than Chelsea. 

 

Like I said, it depends on the criteria and your's may differ from others but Chelsea have been a big team in many people's eyes for a while now. It takes more than one season for that to change.

[shen]

1 hour ago, AKCJ said:

I don't think Vardy's in it for the money. That's pretty obvious considering what has happened regarding Arsenal.

 

Kante has taken a big step back in his career for money, it's that simple and that obvious.

 

Neither Vardy nor Mahrez have done that before in their careers and neither look like doing it in the future.

 

Uhh... Vardy stayed and signed a much improved contract after having just signed a fresh one in February. You can bet your sweet bottom dollar he would have gone had we not approximately matched Arsenal's offer. Don't paint it like money wasn't a prime reason he stayed.

 

The jury is out on Mahrez as he might yet still leave.

 

Also, just to affirm that I too believe it wasn't a wise move by Kanté from a sporting perspective, but I don't get a bitter over players leaving for money. That's just a juvenile reaction.

[AKCJ]

30 minutes ago, shen said:

 

Uhh... Vardy stayed and signed a much improved contract after having just signed a fresh one in February. You can bet your sweet bottom dollar he would have gone had we not approximately matched Arsenal's offer. Don't paint it like money wasn't a prime reason he stayed.

 

The jury is out on Mahrez as he might yet still leave.

 

Also, just to affirm that I too believe it wasn't a wise move by Kanté from a sporting perspective, but I don't get a bitter over players leaving for money. That's just a juvenile reaction.

You can't call it a juvenile reaction when i'm reacting to the main reason he decided to leave.

[Countryfox]

5 hours ago, Captain... said:

There is every possibility that Kante just wasn't happy at the club, I said this in another thread, we signed Amartey in Jan and Mendy in June, they can both play the Kante role, I think Claudio has known for a while the Kante wants to leave and has been preparing for it, possibly the players too. There wereno pleas for him to stay like we had with Vardy and Claudio always said he didn't want unhappy players. Something or someone could have made Kante unhappy, be it the city, the location, someone in the club, the fans, the other players, the culture within the club.

 

The only problem with that theory is that he always looked so happy on the pitch, but the fact that he jumped at the first offer, when he could have had his pick of clubs and probably earned a lot more, felt like he just wanted out.

 

Or maybe he always wanted to go to Chelsea ...   It really was his dream ...    And if he didn't take up their offer now they might have got someone else and not wanted him next season.   As for the smiling ..   I think he just smiles all the time.