N’Golo Kante remains interested in staying at Chelsea despite reports in the Spanish media linking him with a move to Real Madrid.
Kante has missed 20 of Chelsea’s 42 matches this campaign due to a couple of injuries to his hamstring, knee and ankle, and concerns over his long-term fitness have seen Kovacic and Jorginho strike up a good partnership in his absence.
Meanwhile, Billy Gilmour’s emergence and Loftus-Cheek’s return from injury add to Lampard’s options with Barkley and Mason Mount also in the team.
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Real Madrid coach Zinedine Zidane has long been an admirer of Kante and is said to be looking for a back-up for Casemiro with Rennes’ 17-year-old star Eduardo Camavinga and Soumare also on the club’s shortlist.
But Kante is unlikely to accept a back-up role at the Bernabeu and he is currently Chelsea’s highest-paid player on £290,000 per week.
Barcelona would interest the France international as well but only if he was told by the club that they want to sell him ahead of the summer.
The 29-year-old is settled in London and he has three years left on his Chelsea contract but he previously harboured ambitions of playing at one of Spain’s big two teams at one stage in his career.
Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain were interested in N’Golo Kante when he signed for the blues from Leicester for £32 million in 2016, along with Serie A side Juventus.
PSG had wanted to create a homecoming story for the World Cup winner. However, he has been cautious about returning to France due to off-field legal issues with his former agents.
However, it was reported that the issue was resolved upon Kante’s contract renewal in 2018, with an agent fee being shared between his current agent and his former advisors.
Like all their fellow Premier League teams, Chelsea are training at home, and Lampard has been in regular contact with his team and he is using the increased amount of time to do some long-term planning for his future at the club.
“We have the good young players, we have had experienced players around them that have helped them this year, but we know there are little areas within the squad [we can improve],” Lampard told Sky Sports.
“Some of that’s what we have already, some of that’s how we might look to recruit going forward.
