N’Golinho: Cesc Fabregas' Heartfelt Tribute to Chelsea’s Unsung Hero, N’Golo Kanté

Cesc Fabregas reveals that Eden Hazard and I gave N’Golo Kanté a Brazilian nickname N’Golinho when we were together at Chelsea.” Obviously this was a bit of a laugh, but it showed how much we valued N’Golo and how much we appreciate certain aspects of his game that others may not see.

N’Golinho is one of the best players ever at his position. He’s seen as a defensive midfielder that makes all these tackles and picks up a lot of balls and that’s great but sometimes you forget that he never loses. He can run with the ball, break lines and dribble, and, like him, we don’t appreciate it at all. It’s one of the most complete environments in the world, for sure.

Playing alongside N’Golo gives you a lot of security, assurance. The way he retrieves, holds the ball and intercept. Maybe I can understand that without having played with him or knowing him, it’s hard for people to appreciate how important and good he is, but I think more and more people realize that having N’Golo on your team greatly increases your chances of winning winning games and competitions. If you ask the best players in the world if they’d like to have N’Golo on their team, they’ll all answer yes without hesitation.

Sadly, football is now based on your reputation. N’Golo is known for running a lot and retrieving the ball, but he does a lot of other things no one talks about. “He’s one of the best players I’ve played with.”