N'Golo Kante Says 'Big' Chelsea Interest Saw Him Choose Blues over Arsenal

N'Golo Kante has revealed that he chose to move to Chelsea over Arsenal from Leicester City last summer because the Blues pushed harder to sign him than the Gunners.

The French midfielder has again been superb in 2016-17 and looks set to win his second consecutive Premier League title following his £32 million move to Stamford Bridge from Leicester.

But Kante, 26, has revealed he could have ended up at Arsenal as he was aware of the north London club's interest, per Sky Sports (via MailOnline's Joe Strange): "With Arsenal there was an interest but not a big as other clubs. That is why I didn't go to Arsenal and went to Chelsea."

Arsenal did add a new central midfielder to their ranks last summer as they bought Granit Xhaka for £35 million from Borussia Monchengladbach.

Given the respective seasons the two have enjoyed in 2016-17, there will likely be huge frustration among Arsenal fans to learn Kante could have been an Arsenal player.

For many, Kante has been the best player in the Premier League this season:

His work rate in every match has had team-mates purring about his abilities:

Meanwhile, Xhaka has been inconsistent at best. He has been excellent at times, and had one of his better performances against West Ham United in Wednesday's 3-0 Gunners win.

But his ill-discipline, both in terms of his positioning and rashness in the challenge—he has been sent of twice in the Premier League this season—has cost Arsenal.

Football365's Daniel Storey summed up the 24-year-old's Arsenal career so far:

Per Strange, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has previously claimed he looked to buy Kante both when he was an unknown in France at Caen, and when he was a Leicester player helping them to their remarkable title glory in 2016-17.

It will serve to only frustrate Arsenal fans further that their manager failed to snap up a player who has been arguably the Premier League's best over the last two seasons, even though the player was firmly on his radar. 

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