N’Golo Kante told Lampard his legs were dead in 2019 Super Cup but never gave up

N’Golo Kante has been worth his weight in gold for Chelsea since completing his £30 million move from Leicester City in the summer of 2016.

The indefatigable French midfielder had only been playing in England for a year when Chelsea signed him.

But after playing a starring role in Leicester’s extraordinary Premier League title triumph, nobody at Stamford Bridge had any doubts that Kante could make the step up to an elite-level club. And how right they were.

Fast-forward almost six years and it’s safe to say that Kante will go down as one of Chelsea’s greatest ever players.

The World Cup winner has produced countless Man of the Match performances for the Blues, helping the club win a host of major honours in the process.

Since moving to west London, Kante has won the Premier League, the FA Cup, the Europa League, the UEFA Super Cup, the FIFA Club World Cup and, of course, the Champions League.

Kante is unfortunate not to have two UEFA Super Cup medals in his collection after his magnificent performance in 2019 against Liverpool.

The France international played the full 120 minutes despite only just returning from injury.

Frank Lampard, Chelsea’s manager at the time, said after his side were beaten on penalties that Kante had told him his legs were dead at half-time of extra-time.

Lampard had already made all four permitted substitutions, however, which meant Chelsea desperately needed the exhausted Kante to continue playing until the final whistle.

Did he let his manager or teammates down? Absolutely not.

“He’s not trained that much,” Lampard admitted after the match. “We’ve had to protect him because he’s had four years where he’s played and played and played.

“He had a pretty serious injury and then to come back and