Liverpool join Manchester United in the race to sign Leicester City’s N’golo Kante

With Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea already in the race to sign Leicester City star N’Golo Kante, Liverpool have also thrown their name into the hat.

Kante’s top performances in Leicester City colours last season have already drawn the attention of a number of top European clubs with the likes of Ligue 1 champions PSG, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea chasing his signature.

Liverpool, who look set for a massive revamp, as manager Jurgen Klopp prepares his squad for the upcoming season, are also looking to sign the Leicester City man, in order to improve their midfield, according to the Daily Star.

Kante has been one of the finds of the 2015/16 season, as he dished out one top performance after another for Leicester City. In fact, the Leicester City man made the most number of interceptions (156) in Europe last season.

The 25-year-old’s brilliant work in thwarting the opposition midfield has not gone unnoticed, as newly appointed Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has reportedly identified Kante as the next Claudio Makelele.

Makelele, who also used to play for France, was one of the best holding midfielders of his time, helping Mourinho’s Chelsea to back-to-back Premier League titles in the 2004/05 and the 2005/06 seasons. In fact, Makelele showered praises on Kante in a recent interview with French newspaper L’Equipe.

“In this role, when you’re generous, in the service of others and at ease technically, there’s no reason not to develop,” said Makelele. “In my view, he has huge room for improvement. If he continues like that, with work, he will become a key player in a top European team.”

Will Kante fit in Klopp’s Gegenpressing model?

N’Golo Kante has received a lot of praise of over the course of last season, due to his sheer hard work in the middle of the park. His good work has also earned him a place in the France international squad for the ongoing Euro 2016.

Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri has played a system that has only two players in midfield, which often left the Foxes outnumbered in the middle of the park. However, Kante’s great work ethic often ensured that the Leicester midfield did not really feel outnumbered last season.

Klopp is known for deploying energetic players, who are not afraid of clocking the miles during the course of the 90 minutes. In fact, Klopp’s gegenpressing system allows his players to go and press the opposition players as soon as they lose the ball. A midfielder with a high tackling and a high interception rate is important for this system.

In fact, Kante accumulated more than double the number of interceptions than any of the Liverpool midfielders last season. The number of tackles he has put in during the course of the last season is also considerably higher than Emre Can, Lucas Leiva, Jordan Henderson, or James Milner. This makes Kante the perfect player to be the midfield destroyer under Klopp’s gegenpressing system.

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