I wasn't trying to say he was a special or exceptional passer, but he almost always makes the right decision and delivers an accurate pass. You're right that his passing won't dictate a game, so maybe that would be his weakness. His pace, determination, and especially his stamina does dictate games though. Not many guys can still sprint as hard and often at the 90' mark as they could at the 10' mark.
Easily signing of the season at this point, right?
Then we agree. As stated I love Kante and I think he is a very very good player, but he is not a "destroyer" like Roy Keane who could also pass the ball exceptionally well (not being as good as Roy Keane is hardly much criticism though).
In the PL I´m not sure how many really good signings we have seen. Gueye was clever business from Everton. Kante is better than Wanyama, but in terms of value for money it is hard to argue that Kante is 3x more valuable. Also interesting in the head to heads this season Wanyama has been the better player for at least 3 out of 4 halves (second half at Stamford Bridge the only that maybe went Kante´s way). Ibrahimovic for "free" is hard to get away from. Kante in today´s market is fully worth his 32m pounds though.
That said I do question if he was the right player for Chelsea. I might be wrong, but I can´t see this line-up work against really strong teams. Both in the PL and in Europe next year. You might dominate Leicester with Moses - Matic - Kante - Alonso, but that is a very weak midfield in terms of keeping the ball when you are up against Modric and Kroos and teams close to that level. I already think they have been found out by Spurs. Fabregas hasn´t got the legs to play in a 4 like that against high intensity opposition and they just don´t keep the ball well enough without him. Now - Kante isn´t the problem, but with him in a flat 4 they need someone far more complete than Matic. They need Fabregas with his legs from his Arsenal days or someone like Modric. Maybe they would have been better off long term to have spent the Kante-money on someone like that instead. Asking Matic to sit more. I don´t know, but it will be very interesting to see what they do with the midfield come summer.
Being expansive or playing long balls is hardly the same as dictating the game through your passing. Although I agree with Blender that Kante does a lot of other things to dictate the game offensively. He often plays higher up the pitch and has Fabregas or Matic, who certainly can dictate the game through their passing.
The thing is that De Rossi, to whom you originally compared Kante negatively in this regard, is also a technically gifted destroyer, not someone who will run the game.
I don´t see any way how he dictates play at all with his passing. It´s not like he is another Xavi going pass move pass move pass move either. He wins the ball and usually safely gives it to someone else. I don´t have a problem with players like that. And Kante is probably the best in the business at doing it at the moment. I just don´t see how he is more than that. Like Dembele he is a very "safe" passer, but he rarely creates chances or dictates the tempo (Dembele is in my opinion a better passer than Kante, but he also rarely opens play up etc. with his passing - accuracy is very very high though - higher than Kante).
I guess Conte never set up Italy to run the game - at least not against good teams, but I still think Conte then wanted the deeper of the 3 central midfield players to pass the ball in a very different way than he is asking Kante to pass it today. I do believe you have a good point with Motta though. As you say if Conte really wanted a "old school" deep playmaker he would have used Motta more.
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