Frank Lampard has described N'Golo Kante as "one of the best players in the world", while insisting the midfielder has been a huge miss for Chelsea during an injury-hit 2019-20 campaign.
"We had four or five of those [injured players] when we finished playing recently. N’Golo Kante is obviously a great example because he’s played four or five incredible seasons in terms of his individual success and he’s been used quite rightly by his managers a lot," the Chelsea boss told BT Sport.
"This season he’s played only about 40% of our games and even then it’s been difficult for him and I’ve really felt for him on an individual level. He’s been a huge miss for us.
"Looking forward, whenever a restart comes we want to get him in the best shape, want to get Ruben Loftus-Cheek in the best shape.
"We’ve had slightly different plans for them but they’ve been scuppered with what we’ve had to do. The players' health comes first, the mental well-being of the players comes first.
"The self-isolation was tough at first because nobody really knew what it was about we are just trying to get those players who have had extra problems fitter and of course when we get a chance to get back to full training we can get them back to where we need them to be.
"We obviously need N’Golo Kante back in our team, one of the best players in the world. I knew that before I became manager of Chelsea and know that now from working with him.
"I haven’t been able to have him much this year and going forward we, of course, want him fit and raring to go."
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There is nothing Kante KAN'T do