Thomas Tuchel confesses challenge in replacing injured Chelsea star N’Golo Kante
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has confessed that replacing N’Golo Kante in the side is a challenging task. The German believes the France international is a unique player.
Kante picked up an injury during the Stamford Bridge side’s frenetic game against Tottenham Hotspur. The 31-year-old was replaced by Conor Gallagher in the 84th minute against Spurs.
The French national is set to be on the sidelines at least until the end of September. Speaking ahead of the game against Kante’s former side via Metro, Tuchel claimed it’s hard to be without the 31-year-old. The Blues trod carefully with the World Cup winner during pre-season to have him in the best shape for the start of the new campaign.
“For N’Golo it’s difficult to replace him, he’s unique.
“We were full of hope after the pre-season because we built his pre-season very individually and he had a long pre-season.
“We started with one game every week so the hopes were very high that he could play consistently for us.
Kante has suffered from injuries for a while now. In the previous campaign as well, the France international missed parts of the season being on the sideline.
The 31-year-old is one of our most essential players. Kante drives the midfield. He’s the player that keeps the engine room running from back to front.
The World Cup winner was missing against Leeds United in our previous fixture. Gallagher and Jorginho were the ones who played in the midfield pivot. We were overrun by Jesse Marsch’s side, who beat us 3-0.
Mateo Kovacic is another star that has missed the start of the new season. The Croatian alongside Kante is the duo fans feel is the strongest. However, the two have been unlucky with injuries.
At the moment, Tuchel doesn’t have a lot of other options to choose from. Ruben Loftus-Cheek has played a hybrid right-back role and has excelled in it.
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Hopefully, Kante is able to come back and play consistently for us once again. Chelsea are evidently weaker in the absence of the France international.