Thierry Henry: I had to poke Chelsea's Kante to check he's real...he should win Player of Year award

ByKevin Coulson

Updated 12/02/2017 at 18:55 GMT

Thierry Henry believes that Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante should be the Player of the Year after another excellent campaign.

The midfielder, who won the title with Leicester last season, moved to Stamford Bridge over the summer for £32million and has been a key component in leading the Blues to the top of the table by nine points.

And Henry, the former Arsenal and France striker, who won the PFA Players’ award twice, thinks his compatriot should take the title this time.

Former French player Thierry Henry

Image credit: Reuters

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“I was at the Chelsea training ground last week to see Eden Hazard and noticed Kante wandering back to the changing rooms,” he told The Sun.

“So I went over to him and stood in front of him. And I poked him in the chest.

“I had to, just to check if he was real! 'You are real, you are!' I said, and he laughed.”

Chelsea face Burnley on Sunday and Henry, despite there being more than 13 matches to go, feels there is no competition for the end of season award at the moment.

“I see no reason why he shouldn’t be PFA Player of the Year at the end of the season,” he added.

“It’s around now that the voting slips start to drop on the doormats of pros and there are loads of worthy candidates this time.

“Zlatan Ibrahimovic is banging them in for fun — at 35. Alexis Sanchez is chipping in with goals and assists, Romelu Lukaku went into the weekend top of the scoring charts with 16.

“Then there’s Liverpool’s Sadio Mane, Harry Kane and Dele Alli at Spurs and Kevin de Bruyne at City, who have had great seasons.

Usually your Kante-type player goes relatively unnoticed. They are only missed when they’re not there. But Kante is so special, you do notice him.

Henry also believes that Kante even has room to get better and would be amazed by the result.

“Kante had two blinding games in a week against Liverpool and Arsenal. If he starts scoring and improving his final ball, phew!

“Then you would have your two holding midfielders and your No.10 rolled into one.

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