N’Golo Kanté finally sees the end of the tunnel. Sidelined for almost eight months and a match at the start of the Championship on August 14, the French midfielder pushed back a Premier League lawn on Saturday during Chelsea-Aston Villa (29th day).
Entering the game in the 58th minute when his team was down 0-2, the international tricolor (53 caps, 2 goals) was warmly applauded by Stamford Bridge. Kanté has come a long way, he who was struggling to recover from a first hamstring injury suffered at the end of his summer preparation, and only two Premier League games played in August. The 2018 world champion had relapsed in October, depriving him of participation in the 2022 World Cup.
The quarter-final of C1 against Real in the line of sight
His return is a great satisfaction on a personal level, and bodes well for the Blues eleven days before facing Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League. Before that, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Wolverhampton will be playing. His coach Graham Potter had indicated at a press conference his wish to give a few minutes of play to Kanté, who celebrated his 32nd birthday on Wednesday. “It’s about managing his minutes and accumulating them in the Premier League because he’s been out for a very long time. But he trained well and had some playing time behind the scenes,” he said.
Present in the Chelsea group for the match against Everton on March 18, N’Golo Kanté did not come into play. He made his first return to the field with the Blues reserve team, playing 60 minutes against Charlton on March 24.