Barcelona had been planning to make a move for Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante – according to various reports.
The Catalans were expected to let Ivan Rakitic leave the club during the January transfer window and were reportedly looking at Kante as the long-term replacement.
Now though it seems like Barcelona have made a U-turn on their decision and they do not want to part ways with Rakitic.
And as per the reports, this is the main reason why Ernesto Valverde has no interest in making a move for N’Golo Kante – neither in January nor during the summer transfer window.
The Frenchman has been a key figure at Chelsea ever since he joined the club from Leicester in 2016 but during the past two seasons, the defensive midfielder has not been able to play in his favoured role.
Ever since Jorginho’s come into the side, Kante has been handed a more advanced role and it’s safe to say, he’s not had the same kind of impact.
So there have been reports that he wants to head out Stamford Bridge by the end of the season with Barcelona being the first priority.
📰 — Kante has told the club that he wants to leave. Barcelona and Madrid are already trying to sign the midfielder. [espn] pic.twitter.com/CskF73TcJS
— Barca Universal (@BarcaUniversal) December 16, 2019
Now though with Barca pulling interest, it seems like Real Madrid are the favourites to sign the midfielder since they too have been linked with the World Cup winner.
It’s still unclear whether Lampard would want to part ways with N’Golo Kante but many believe the manager wouldn’t hesitate to cash in on him since he will be bringing in new players in January.
While it is very much possible that Lampard choose to offload N’Golo Kante but we doubt if he would want to sell him off in the middle of such a crunch season.
