Inter Milan Are Interested In $40M Midfielder After Chelsea Decide To Sell Him: Report

Inter Milan are reportedly considering to sign N’Golo Kante after Chelsea have decided to accept offers for the central midfielder ahead of the summer market.

It was earlier known that Kante would not be available for transfer this summer. However, due to a below-average season under Frank Lampard, where Kante has scored just three goals, the situation has changed and the Blues have decided to sell Kante, who was a part of the French side that won the FIFA World Cup in 2018.

Antonio Conte, who was in charge of Chelsea when they signed Kante from Leicester City for $40 million in 2016, is the current boss of Inter Milan. According to Italian publication Gazzetta Dello Sport, Conte is interested in signing Kante again, now that the player has fallen in Chelsea’s pecking order under Lampard’s reign.

Conte remains an admirer of Kante as the two had won the Premier League together in 2016-17, which was Kante’s debut season with Chelsea, while it was also Conte’s first season in charge of the London club.

Even though Kante, who has played 169 matches for Chelsea, may not be at his previous best, Inter Milan are expected to pay a hefty price to sign the 29-year-old midfielder. It is also understood that Inter Milan will have to shell out a lot of money for the player’s wages too as Kante would want a lucrative raise from his reported current salary of $370,000-a-week at Chelsea.

Kante has started 20 Premier League games this season, including four since the restart of the league in June after a three-month break due to the outbreak of coronavirus.

Despite getting ample opportunities this campaign, he has not been able to deliver for Lampard’s side, who are currently placed third in the Premier League table. However, their spot in the top four is still not safe because the fourth and the fifth-placed teams – Leicester City and Manchester United – are only a point and two away from Chelsea respectively. Chelsea’s recent 3-0 loss to Sheffield United has done further damage to their chances of finishing in the top four.

In a recent interview, Lampard admitted that he is glad about managing a player like Kante before he spoke about how he plans to handle Kante and the injury issues he has suffered in the ongoing season.

"I am happy to look at managing a player like him, with the level he has reached in previous years in his career. That will be a very open conversation between myself and N’Golo and our strength and conditioning coach and our medical team. The big issue this season was that he came to pre-season injured and missed a massive part of the season. We tried to quickly get him fit for the Super Cup and he was incredible in his performance [against Liverpool] but he was still struggling," added Lampard in the same interview.