Graham Potter frustrated by ‘fantastic’ Chelsea player’s injury absence

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Chelsea manager Graham Potter expressed his frustration over N’Golo Kante’s long-term injury absence that has prevented him from using the “fantastic” midfielder so far.

Since Kante joined Chelsea in 2016, every Chelsea manager before Potter relied heavily on the midfielder.

He was the player of the season when Antonio Conte led Chelsea to a Premier League title in 2017.

In 2019, Maurizio Sarri deemed Kante too important to miss the Europa League final and reportedly made him play with an injection after a knee injury.

Chelsea won that game against Arsenal comfortably, but it might have had a long-term impact on Kante’s career.

Kante has since struggled with injuries, particularly knee problems.

The France international missed around 50 percent of Chelsea’s games under Frank Lampard.

Thomas Tuchel initially had more luck. Kante managed to stay fit and helped Chelsea to win the Champions League in the German’s first six months in charge.

When Kante returned to battles with injuries the following season, Tuchel’s Chelsea struggled too.

Now, Potter, the unluckiest of them all, has not been able to use the midfielder in a match even once, and he is understandably disappointed.

“NG is a unique footballer for sure and a very special person here,” the manager told Chelsea TV when speaking about Kante.

“From my perspective, it’s been frustrating because we haven’t seen him on the pitch and we haven’t seen him too much in the training sessions.

“But in the small bits we had, you can absolutely see his quality, understanding of the game, incredible level, and strategically, [he’s] really smart.

“He has also got the technicality and physicality to deal with the Premier League — he’s a fantastic player.”

Should Chelsea have signed a backup or even replaced Kante long ago, considering his injury record? Probably.

But as Potter pointed out, he is such a unique player, and finding a player who offers what he does at his level is arguably close to impossible.

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