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Wenger says star has “incredible quality” amid reports of £20m swoop

By on June 10, 2016

According to the Mirror, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has heaped praise on N’Golo Kante amid continued reports that we’re lining-up a £20m swoop for the Leicester City midfielder.

Kante has just come off the back of a sensational campaign with his energetic displays in the middle of the park playing a key role in helping Leicester land a shock Premier League title.

Arsenal have been strongly linked with a move for the 25-year-old in recent months but many thought our interest ended after we brought in Swiss midfielder Granit Xhaka last month.

However, Le Parisien recently claimed that Arsenal were still in pole position to sign the French international while the Sun reported last week that Wenger is still ‘desperate’ to lure Kante to the Emirates and was ready to meet his £20m release clause.

The boss has now fuelled that speculation even further after heaping praise on the midfielder by saying he is a huge admirer as Kante has ‘incredible quality’ that few central midfielder possess.

Wenger is quoted as saying by the Mirror:

“I admire and like N’Golo Kanté a lot. It gives you ideas. He gives you the feeling that the higher the level he plays at, the more at ease he is.

“We are talking about numbers. He has the most interceptions in Europe and by far.

“He has incredible quality. He feels the game, only very few people can do that. He’s always where he needs to be.

“It is very rare to have that in the central midfielder. Not always orthodox, but always in the right place.”

I’m a huge Kante fan but it’s difficult to see where he’d fit in at Arsenal now we have Xhaka on board. At the moment, we have six top class central midfielders in Xhaka, Coquelin, Wilshere, Cazorla, Elneny and Wilshere all vying for two spots, so there is no need to spend another £20m on Kante unless someone is going.

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Of the current six, I’d say Coquelin is the most likely to leave if Kante does arrive as he plays in the same defensive role as his compatriot, but I’d still be surprised if Wenger does end up splashing another big fee on a second central midfielder this summer.