Why Chelsea star N'Golo Kante is expected to be left out of the France squad to face Croatia

It was after Chelsea's penultimate game of the 2021/22 Premier League season – a 1-1 draw with Leicester City at Stamford Bridge – that Thomas Tuchel was asked a somewhat innocuous question about the importance of N'Golo Kante in his side. The response from the German was a strong one.

"I think he is our key, key, key player, but key, key, key players need to be on the pitch," said Tuchel. "He plays only 40% of the games, so it is maybe a miracle that we arrive in third place. He is our Mo Salah, he is our Virgil ban Dijk, he is our Kevin De Bruyne. He is simply that player, our Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.

"He is that guy who makes the difference, but if you only have him for 40% [of the games], then it is a huge problem. Given that percentage, it is maybe a miracle that we produce these results. It puts everything into perspective as I saw Liverpool without van Dijk last season, and they struggled heavily. You see the difference. N'Golo is our key player, and we need him on the pitch."

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Tuchel wasn't done, though. Far from it. The Chelsea head coach continued: "Last season, in the last final matches of the Champions League, he got the [man-of-the-match] trophy. I mean, they almost handed him the trophy before the match. It was like this. This guy who gets man of the match in every Champions League game, he is only here for 40-something percent of the matches this season. This is huge for us.

"We do everything to solve it. Of course, he as well. I don't blame him, it is just a concern and a fact that we miss him a lot because he brings something that is unique in world football, and he has that ability to lift everybody up and