Barcelona and Chelsea fight for Kante: The state of play

Carlo Garganese

• 8 Jan 2023 15:38 GMT
• 3 min read

Chelsea are now favourites over Barcelona to secure N’Golo Kante’s services next season.

Kante’s contract at Stamford Bridge expires at the end of the current campaign, which means he is now able to negotiate a pre-contract with other clubs.

But multiple sources have reported in recent days that Kante has been offered a new three-year contract by Chelsea and it is more likely than not that he will pen an extension.

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Sport adds on Sunday that Kante has told Barcelona that he wants to see their offer first before deciding whether to extend with Chelsea.

It is believed Barca won’t be able to match Chelsea’s offer financially.

Kante has been a key player for Chelsea over the past few years, especially during the club’s 2021 Champions League success.

However, he is now on the wrong side of 30 and increasingly injury-prone.

With fellow midfielder Jorginho also seeing his deal expire at the end of the season, it is widely reported that Chelsea will only renew one of these two players.

Kante injury problems

Kante have suffered a string of injuries over the last year or two that have complicated contract talks.

The former Leicester City star has played just 175 minutes of football this season with a hamstring injury, while he had four different injuries last season as well as two bouts of Coronavirus. He missed the World Cup due to injury.

Barcelona have been heavily linked with both Kante and Jorginho, having signed a host of free transfers in the last year or two.

This past summer, Barca bought Franck Kessie and Andreas Christensen on a Bosman transfer, while a year ago they brought in Sergio Aguero, Memphis Depay and Eric Garcia.

Kante joined Chelsea after helping Leicester to win the Premier League in 2015-16.

He has made 262 appearances for Chelsea, scoring 11 goals. He has won one Premier League title, one Champions League as well as the World Cup during his time at the club.