Barcelona would be crazy to replace Busquets with Kante

Robin Bairner

• 30 Oct 2022 11:42 GMT
• 4 min read

Barcelona have reportedly made Chelsea midfielder N’Golo Kante their No.1 target to replace Sergio Busquets for the 2023/24 season.

Barca are set to embark on ‘Operation Exit’ in January, when they will begin to offload the deadwood of their squad and seek to embark on a mission of rejuvenating the team.

Revelo states that the France international is top of their shortlist. Certainly, Kante would be an eye-catching addition, having been a leading player in European football for the last six or seven years, yet in reality, the World Cup winner is likely to only add to Barcelona’s problems.

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The Camp Nou side’s headaches are twofold. Firstly, they do not have a mobile leader in the centre of the park and secondly they do not have the financial capability to sign one easily.

On the face of things, Kante would solve both problems. The 31-year-old is renowned throughout the game for his boundless energy, while he is liable to be available on a free transfer in 2023. Indeed, Barcelona could open contract talks with him officially in little over two months.

Scratch the surface, though, and this is a move that the Catalans must avoid.

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Kante’s big red flag

Kante is a player whose whole game is based around physicality. It should be seen as a huge red flag, then, that he has suffered repeated injury problems for several months. He has managed only two appearances this season and is presently out for an estimated four months due to hamstring surgery that will see him miss France’s World Cup defence.

Last term, Kante managed only 26 Premier League matches and missed nearly 50% of Chelsea’s Champions League matches.

He is no longer a player whose physical condition can be guaranteed.

At the right price, Kante could be a worthwhile gamble, in spite of all this, yet a player of world-class ability comes with wages of the same magnitude. He is presently one of Chelsea’s top earners, taking home an estimated annual salary of €17.7 million.

Barcelona are seeking to cut back on wages and even if they slashed his pay packet by two thirds, which would make him a middle earner in the squad, he would be an expensive asset to have sitting out a significant portion of the time.

Knocked out of the Champions League at the group stages in each of the last two seasons, Barca have to start getting things right in the transfer window. Signing veteran players whose bodies appear to be failing is not the right way of going about it.