Four potential side-effects of Chelsea’s ‘£290K-a-week contract offer’ to N’Golo Kante

Word on the street is that Chelsea are about to give N’Golo Kanté a seismic pay rise.

In an effort to stave off interest from PSG, who are hovering around the World Cup winning defensive midfielder, the Blues are, according to The Times, ready to hand their man a mammoth new contract and make him the highest-paid player in the club’s history.

First thing’s first, N’Golo Kanté fully deserves this pay rise. He has spent three seasons in English football and won a title in all of them (two Premier Leagues and then an FA Cup). He’s a relentless worker who spends his time on the pitch covering for his teammates mistakes. And not that it’s relevant to earning a pay rise, but he’s a really lovely chap too.

But such a deal would have intense aftershocks, changing the footballing landscape around it. We here at Squawka have had a look and rounded up the four most significant side-effects of Chelsea’s new deal to Kanté.

1. Other defensive midfielders demanding their worth

For years, defensive midfielder was an undervalued position. Then suddenly Claude Makélélé left Real Madrid and the Galacticos imploded so quickly that the idea of a defensive midfielder suddenly shot up in importance. Since then, people have come to value these pivots more, but still not to the point where they are paid as highly as they should be.

But if N’Golo Kanté gets paid his worth, suddenly defensive midfielders the world over will be wondering why they aren’t earning the top wages. Sergio Busquets may want to rethink the deal he agreed in principle with Barcelona, and Casemiro might want to knock on Florentino Perez’s door asking about a raise. Marco Verratti may feel like PSG could afford to give him more money, and whoever Manchester City eventually sign to replace Fernandinho will demand top dollar.

2. PSG back on the midfielder market

Should Kanté stay in London, PSG will have lost what they saw as a key component of their new rebuild. They need a defensive anchor in their side now Thiago Motta has gone. Sure, Marco Verratti can pick up Motta’s playmaking duties, but he’s not the same level of defender. Neither is Adrien Rabiot, who may or may not be leaving Paris this summer.

PSG would still need to sign a holding midfielder, and that could have a huge effect on the market should they move for one. The Parisians roaming Europe with money in their pocket and a position to fill is likely to mean anyone out there with a quality defensive midfielder is vulnerable to having them nabbed. And any such deal (like one for Miralen Pjanic, or Mateo Kovacic) could provide the selling club with enough funds to create a genuine domino effect in the transfer market.

3. Eden Hazard on the way out

It’s hard to imagine anyone begrudging Kanté his pay rise, but one player who may feel a little put out at least will be Eden Hazard. Chelsea’s brilliant Belgian is currently the club’s joint-highest earner, and should Kanté surpass him then he will want a colossal figure to renew with the Blues. Or more likely after his spectacular World Cup and the prospects of a season playing in the Europa League, Hazard will feel a move away from Stamford Bridge should be his next step.

The club may well agree, as committing more than £290k a week to Eden Hazard (and thus having around £600k a week tied up in two players) when you’re not in the Champions League nor guaranteed to get back in it next season is an incredible risk. Given Hazard’s nature to look out for his own interests and constantly court the attention of other clubs, it would be wise of the Blues to offload him and make sure that Kanté sets the tone for the squad going forward: team-focused workhorses.

4. Chelsea will need a clear-out to avoid wage hell

The thing is, Chelsea may not have a choice in terms of getting rid of Hazard instead of renewing him. If Kanté gets this bumper deal, the Blues will have to up the rates of every player they renew, and Cesc Fabregas, David Luiz and Pedro have just one year remaining on their current deals, while Hazard, Willian and Azpilicueta’s contracts expire in 2020.

You’d figure Chelsea will want to renew most of those players (Thibaut Courtois, Gary Cahill and Olivier Giroud also have deals that expire in a year but the club seems fine with them leaving now), but if Kanté’s deal sets the bar for the Blues then none of these renewals will come cheap. Fabregas and David Luiz look like they will play bigger roles under Maurizio Sarri, Pedro seems ideal for Sarri’s system, whilst César Azpilicueta could well be the next club captain.

These are players that cannot be ignored or sold if Chelsea want to remain competitive, so how can the Blues handle a spiralling wage bill? They’ll have to have a clear-out. Expensive do-nothing back-ups like Danny Drinkwater and Michy Batshuayi will have to become a thing of the past, and the club’s colossal array of loan stars will need to be cut back on. Fortunately, Chelsea have an elite youth academy so should be able to replace all these back-ups without spending too much in terms of wages or transfer fee, but they will have to act decisively or potentially face financial fair play repercussions.

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