Mark Schwarzer fears N’Golo Kante’s energetic style of play may have finally taken its toll on the Chelsea midfielder.
The 29-year-old made just 28 appearances for the Blues last season, as a number of minor injuries kept him on the sidelines.
That tally was a considerable drop from the 53 appearances the Frenchman made in 2018-19, but ex-Chelsea keeper Schwarzer has backed Kante to rediscover his best form this season.
Schwarzer told Goal.com: “I’m a massive fan of Kante, I think he’s a phenomenal player.
“His rise to stardom has been well documented and having been with him for that one season at Leicester, it was a joy to be there, watching and playing with him.
“I think it’s all just caught up with him physically because he’s a player that’s very mobile, does a lot of work all over the pitch, it’s taken its toll.
“He’s played a lot of the time with little niggling injuries and he’s played through the pain barrier and I think last season it caught up with him a lot.
“He struggled to get any real consistency in terms of game time because of his injuries.
“I hope this season after the coronavirus break he has hopefully given his body time to recover and hopefully get things right physically.
“If he can do that he’ll be a massive asset for Chelsea.
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“I hope they keep hold of him.”
Last week, the Daily Mail reported Chelsea had rejected a swap offer for Kante from Inter Milan which would have seen Christian Eriksen and Marcelo Brozovic head in the opposite direction.
Blues boss Frank Lampard told BBC Radio 5 Live earlier this week Kante was fundamental to his plans despite reports Chelsea could consider cash bids for the World Cup winner.
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