Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has talked about a potential move for Leicester’s N’Golo Kante, claiming his club look to have prepared for his exit.
The Foxes are believed to be extremely close to completing a deal to sign Nampalys Mendy from Nice this summer, which could well prove to be Kante’s replacement for the coming season.
The France international was in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, and was among the front-runners for the the PFA Player of the Year.
Kante has since emerged as a France international, and has stamped his place into their first-team during the Euro 2016 tournament, which can only increase the interest in his signature.
Arsene Wenger has been linked with a bid to try and sign Kante, and while he refused to talk about whether he would make an offer, he did talk up the likelihood that Leicester are preparing for an exit.
Wenger said: “It is very difficult to talk about that at the moment. Kante is on the list of many clubs. It is an area where we have many players.
“We will see what happens in the next two or three weeks. It looks like Leicester have bought a player from Nice [Nampalys Mendy] with similar qualities to Kante, so whether they envisage to lose him or not I don’t know.
“If you ask 100 people in the street if they want Kante to play [for France] you will get 100 saying yes. He has done the job in one or two games and I am not surprised.
“I said two months ago this boy will play the whole European Championship. We know him well from Leicester now and I am not surprised that he is starting. He has been one of the revelations of the French team.”
Could Kante be set to line up alongside Granit Xhaka next season?