N’Golo Kanté is a player like no other.
For many, the French world champion is nothing less
than the best defensive midfielder in the world.
He always seems to be where he needs to be.
A player who doesn't consider himself too good for the so-called dirty work.
He wins so many balls, he gives everybody confidence.
To have N´G on the field is always a pleasure. He has a work rate that is like outstanding.
His nickname: Pac-Man. Because the best eats the rest.
But does that fit? What do the people who know the data say?
How much of a PacMan is Kanté?
What makes Kanté special is his ability to play the game in two ways.
He's not only a strong defender, but also a creative mind who can direct the game.
He's like a conductor.
But lets talk a bit about the man first.
The conductor, it seems, doesn't like to be the centre of attention
although you do find traces of him in the social media world.
Kanté, born in 1991, is a humble man.
You could even call him something of a rarity in his industry: He's shy.
Kanté is a star who doesn't want to be one.
The limelight is not for him. He doesn't feel comfortable there.
Although he would have enough to show off. His collection of titles is extraordinary.
World champion with France in 2018 and Champions League winner with Chelsea in 2021.
After winning the World Cup, winning the Champions League, so humble as a person.
So happy, I'm so happy for him. He´s a massive part of this team.
After few years I’m very happy to have him next to me.
Plus: a FIFA Club World Champion
a Europa League Winner
an English Cup Winner
and English Champion in 2016 with Leicester City and 2017 with Chelsea.
And he was voted the Premier League's best player that year.
It’s very special to be here, because a few years ago
I was in France in the lower divisions.
Like five years ago, I wasn’t professional.
Five years earlier, Kanté was still playing for Boulogne in France's third division.
Then, he moved to Caen in the second tier and was promoted directly to Ligue 1.
In 2015, he was bought by Leicester City for 8 million Euros
and sensationally won the Premier League.
After just one season he moved on to Chelsea for 38,5 million Euros.
On his return to Leicester for an away game
he received the warmest of welcomes.
I'll give to him a very warm „Welcome back“ and I’m sure, also our fans.
They must appreciate what he did last season and give a warm „Welcome back".
At his new club, N'Golo immediately became a champion again.
With a total of 93 points! A whopping 49 ahead of his ex-club Leicester City!
He was not only voted player of the year by his colleagues...
The 2017 Men’s Player of the year is N´Golo Kantè.
…but also by the press. At the ceremony he showed again how humble he is.
I want to thank also my team-mates, my manager, my coach from the previous club,
because with them, season after season, they’ve given me help.
And it’s the reason why I’m here today.
And here he still is. With everyone still hyping him to this day.
But are they right to do so? Let's take a close look at his data.
If we check his radar in particular, we can see his output
and explain our observations and prove our observations.
For example, if you check his tackles and interception numbers,
these are world class, these are outstanding. This is top of the world!
Lets talk tackles.
Kanté makes an average of 3.85 successful tackles per game in the Premier League,
well above the defensive midfield average of 2.13
In terms of tackling, he is among the top 5%
of all defensive midfielders in Europe's top leagues.
His interceptions are also world-class.
With 4.1 successful interceptions per game, he doubles the Premier League average.
And that puts him in the top 2% of all comparable players in the top 5 European leagues.
All that even though he seems as if he couldn't hurt a fly.
You can’t hate him. The person who'd hate this guy, you’ve got a serious problem with yourself.
Because, he’s so nice, he’s so friendly. Always smiling. I never saw him angry.
So maybe his secret is being a mix between a nice guy and a tough guy.
He’s one of the best when it comes to defensive aggressiveness.
Also, his aggressive actions, which is an overall number of his aggressiveness.
Kanté is also one of the best at stopping goals at the last second.
His defensive actions are far above the Premier League average for defensive midfielders.
When it comes to thwarting opponents' chances, he is in the top 13% in Europe's elite.
And that as a defensive midfielder. Only the best center-backs clear more in the box.
He does everything. You know the energy he brings.
You know, I don’t know how many ball recoveries he has had today.
Ball recoveries? Oh, he has got far more of those than the competition.
It's not easy to outrun Kanté or dribble past him.
57% of the time he stops players in their tracks.
While the Premier League average in his position is 41%.
That puts Kanté in the top 3% of Europe's elite leagues.
His best skills are his defensive skills, how he chases down opponents, cuts attacks.
Also in the transition game, you know, to push the team forward with his creative mind,
with his accurate passings and all the skills which are god given.
With passing success rate of 86%, Kanté is once again better than the Premier League average
and among the top 14% of all defensive midfielders in Europe.
And he is a good dribbler. On average, he outdribbles his opponent 1.56 times per game.
Which is more than it sounds: Twice the Premier League average!
That puts him in the top 12% in his position in the top 5 leagues in Europe.
N´Golo ist incredible. He´s like one and a half or two players.
Of course, there are similar types of player to N'Golo Kanté.
Aurélien Tchouaméni of Monaco,
Tyler Adams of RB Leipzig
or Guido Rodriguez of Real Betis.
They have their strengths in the same areas as Kanté,
winning the ball, tackling, defensive actions.
But none of them comes close to Kanté's numbers.
If you’ve N´Golo, you’ve something that everybody is looking for.
You have everything what you need in midfield.
You have workrate, intensity, ball wins, skillful play, off the ball, with the ball,
dribblings, half-field drive, today even a goal.
However, the key to Kanté's exceptional performances is to be found off the pitch.
He´s a practising Muslim and it seems like he has taken his strength out of his faith.
And this helps him to concentrate and focus on the main things.
So this is definitely a huge aspect of his personality.
And it is like intrinsic. You know, it comes from deep inside and you can see it.
In view of all these insane numbers: Does N'Golo Kanté have any weaknesses? Anything?
Kanté is a top midfielder, which I agree. He's a top class midfielder of whatever he does.
But he doesn’t score many goals. Does he?
They still say that Kanté does this and that, but I score more goals.
In his 11 years as a pro, he has only scored 23 goals.
By comparison, his Chelsea midfield partner Jorghino
has scored almost twice as many in the same period.
And for France, Kanté has scored just twice.
Are there any other areas where he is not world class?
He has average numbers as well, such as the aerial duels,
duels which might be related to his, you know, like to his height.
But still, he seeks the situations to do duels, and this should be credit as well.
At 1.68 metres tall, Kanté is always one of the smallest on the pitch
and has a disadvantage in the air.
Nevertheless, he doesn't avoid those aerial battles.
But there are also stats where Kanté is actually below average.
Turnovers for example: Kanté loses an average of 2.03 balls per game.
The Premier League average in his position is only 1.42.
And also in counterpressure regains.
That's when a lost ball is recovered by the opposition within 5 seconds.
Here, Kanté has a lower-than-average score.
In all other areas, he is better than the Premiere League average.
But how does it look compared to the best defensive midfielders around?
Who is better at what? Here are three examples.
Manchester City's Rodri plays successful passes more often.
91% compared to 86% for Kanté.
And for passes played under pressure it's 83% to 79%.
Rodri's biggest advantage is in "deep progressions".
That means, how often a player performs an action that brings the ball closer to the opponent's goal.
Here Rodri's average is 8.46, Kanté's: only 5.65 per game.
Rodri also loses fewer balls.
However, Kanté's data is better in all other stats.
Real’s Casemiro only beats Kanté in "defensive actions",
when it comes to reducing the chance of conceding goals.
And he averages only 0.85 ball losses per game to Kanté's 1.37.
Joshua Kimmich surpasses Kanté in quite a few statistics,
for example, in on-ball value, actions that increase the chance of scoring a goal
and reduce the chance of conceding a goal.
Here the German is better: 0.49 to 0.13.
Also when it comes to getting closer to the opponent's goal with the ball,
Kimmich is far more effective, averaging 10.54 such actions per game, Kanté is only at 5.65
Apart from these areas, in most other statistics, Kanté outclasses these other three stars.
So is Kanté the best defensive midfielder? Is it even possible to answer that question realistically?
I see this every day in training and it’s hard to believe how good he is.
He doesn’t make the fault introducing on ball wins.
He plays excellent in every possession game that we have in training. He’s a unique guy.
And the true greatness of a player can only be measured by his biggest tests.
Kanté has passed these more than once with flying colors.
One outstanding game, one peak performance was a Champions League final
City against Chelsea.
If we check the passing networks of the game and when we compare both halves,
we see in the first half, N´Golo Kanté was positioned very high.
Here we can see the colour represents his effectiveness,
his contribution to the game, his "xg contribution".
He was very effective.
So we were always talking about his defensive skills,
but here we can see his offensive work as well.
In the second half, we see first of all, the colour schedule presents, the "xg".
And we can say we can represent the effectiveness of a player.
And Kanté was also in the second half one of the top three guys, conducting the game.
You know, the creative mind.
So you can trust Kanté in both ways, both defensive and offensive.
So this was one of his best games.
Kanté’s numbers are world class.
And even when they're not, they're still very good. He has no real weaknesses.
I love him. He’s honest as the day is long.
He goes for the ball, he doesn’t foul play, he doesn’t get involved.
He just gets on with the game. He’s a real pro.
He´s unique and he can change any momentum.
So what do you think? Is Ngolo Kanté the world's best midfielder?
Let us know in the comments!