A lot has been said about N’Golo Kante’s best position since Maurizio Sarri decided to use the Frenchman in a more offensive midfield role.
Kante had been hailed as the best defensive midfielder in the world the past few years, but Sarri brought a new dimension to his game when he decided to pusher him higher up, as Kante featured mostly on the right side of a midfield three, with Jorginho at the base.
Sarri was heavily criticised last season for how he used Kante, but it seems the Italian’s decision has even made Kante a better player, as the 28-year-old was in amazing form against Liverpool in the Super Cup final on Wednesday night.
Surprisingly, new Blues boss Frank Lampard didn’t also use Kante as a defensive midfielder, rather Kante featured as a box to box midfielder, and bossed the midfield against Jurgen Klopp’s men.
New Besiktas coach Abdullah Avcı has hailed Kante’s performance and believes Lampard used him the right way.
“Kante’s return to the starting line-up significantly improved Chelsea,” the Besiktas boss told Goal in an exclusive interview.
“It’s impossible to define Kante as a classic defensive midfielder. Lampard assigned him to a box-to-box role against Liverpool and this resulted in an impressive performance.
Kante is known mostly for his work rate, tough tackling and breaking up play, but he impressed Avcı with his ball possession and his willingness to carry the ball forward, and Avci was amazed with his performance on Wednesday.
“He made eight successful dribbles which is his career high!” he added.
“Sarri was constantly criticised for this but Kante was the best Chelsea player on the pitch.”