Leicester City’s N’Golo Kante is one of the hottest properties in English football currently, and he has supposedly set his sights on a move to Arsenal.
The 25 year-old has been strongly linked with both Manchester City and us in recent months, and new reports claim that Pep Guardiola has opted against his signature, leaving the Gunners at the front of the queue.
The recently promoted France international is now claimed to have ‘decided’ to join Arsenal this summer, which may have been helped along the way by the recent Xhaka circus.
Granit Xhaka of Borussia Monchengladback plays in a very similar role to the Frenchman, and is also strongly linked with a move to the Emirates. He was seen hugging a number of his coaches at the end of their last match of the term, and is believed to be extremely close to a switch to Arsenal.
Guardiola’s new supposed stance paired with the likelihood that Xhaka is close to signing may have both forced Kante to pursue his move, although there is no certainty that we are not trying to sign both midfield targets.
Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta are both leaving the club, which could free up space for the pair to come in, but Francis Coquelin and Mohamed Elneny are the current first-choice for a starting role in North-London, and accommodating the quartet could be tough.
The Egyptian is fast becoming a fans favourite since joining in January, and will be quite hard to shift I would have thought, while Coquelin has not enjoyed his best year, and could find it hard to earn a regular starting role next season.
Did Xhaka’s recent actions persuade Kante to change his stance? Or do you think City pulled out the race forcing his hand? Maybe it is all just speculation…