Leicester City: Retaining Kante biggest test of success

So Leicester City are the reigning Premier League Champions. That part is over. Now they have to work through what that success brings with it, namely, player exits.

With such a quick rise to the top, it was always going to end up like this for Leicester City. All of the ‘no name’ players that they threw together to unlock this winning formula were going to gain a massive amount of exposure and naturally, some would feel a bit of an inflated ego as well.

With that comes the inevitable player exits. To this point, Leicester City has held together incredibly well. With their trio of stars-turned, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante all likely facing exits when the season ended, the Foxes have held tough.

Jamie Vardy, after much deliberation, left behind the chance to play for Arsenal and instead pledged himself to Leicester City. Riyad Mahrez was heavily tied to an exit as well, and he even spoke openly about entertaining the idea, but he has stayed put thus far and the rumor mill has quieted.

It’s only the silent enforcer, N’Golo Kante, who looks to be moving on.

With Chelsea, Arsenal and a handful of other teams said to be interested in the tenacious midfielder, Leicester City are facing their biggest test of their Premier League success. Retaining a 29 year old striker is one thing. Retaining a 25 year old centerpiece enforcer in that midfield is quite another.

I liken this a lot to what West Ham are having to do with Dmitri Payet. Both West Ham and Leicester City are wanting to keep their profile up there with the big dogs, and that involves hanging onto the stars that got you to where you are. Namely, N’Golo Kante.

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All signs point to Leicester City losing their man, but then again, all signs pointed to them losing Vardy too.

Kante was such a huge piece of Leicester City’s success. They won’t be able to easily replace him, even though they have already landed Nampalys Mendy from Nice. Kante was just too important.

He served two major purposes for the Foxes historic campaign. For the first half of the season, when Leicester City were counter-attacking like madmen and taking names, Kante was crucial to stopping the flow of play and turning it in Leicester City’s favor. Counter-attacking teams need that guy in front of the defense that has the ability to stop opposing attacks early and launch the counter quickly.

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Then, in the second half, Kante had to switch his use to a strictly defensive midfielder, as Leicester City became a ‘score and park the bus’ team. He did both of those roles incredibly well and in the end, was just as big of a piece of Leicester City’s title run as Vardy or Mahrez. As such, retaining him is just as important as retaining the two attackers.