Inter Milan had a move rejected for Chelsea midfield anchorman N’Golo Kante this summer, according to a former Inter manager.
Luis Suárez Miramontes, who played for the Italian club in the 60s, and managed them in two spells, said
the Blues stood firm despite overtures from Inter.
He claims former Blues boss Antonio Conte was keen for a reunion with Kante, 29, at the San Siro.
“They [Inter] lack a player of a certain hierarchy in the centre of the field who leads the game,” Suarez
told AS, as reported by Sport Witness.
“A good one who really commands…They wanted to sign Kanté, the Frenchman, who is a ‘run-see-and-tell’.
Do you get me? He won a World Cup, by doing ‘run-see-and-tell’.”
“They [Inter] have not signed him because Chelsea did not want to [sell him]. Here they wanted to pay
in millions.”
Reports coming out of France and Italy this week claim that Inter remain interested in the French international
and could make another move in the January transfer window.
But the club’s refusal to sell him – and boss Frank Lampard’s continued insistence that Kante remains a key player – suggest the Blues have no interest in letting him go.
Kante has been first choice for Lampard so far this season and has started all four of Chelsea’s Premier League matches, but his Stamford Bridge future could hinge on a potential pursuit of West Ham’s England midfielder Declan Rice.
