Former France and Manchester United midfielder says Poland could make the Euro 2021 semi-finals
Calling for compatriot N’Golo Kante to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or award after his Champions League exploits, former France and Manchester United forward Louis Saha said the Chelsea midfielder is a good better player now than he was a few of years back.
chatting with reporters in an interaction facilitated by Sony Sports Network, for whom he are going to be a pundit for the upcoming European Championship, Saha said Kante has been ready to improve his game thanks to a tweak in his positioning during Maurizio Sarri’s tenure as Chelsea manager.
“The guy (Kante) may be a machine. i feel he knows even more what he must do now than maybe two years ago. When Sarri came to the club and made him play during a different position, i feel he improved his game. He can now recover the ball really high within the field and deliver the proper quite passes,” Saha said.
“He is basically accurate and pragmatic in what he's doing. He knows where to run. He won’t be too tired because some players can maybe run quite him but they can’t think like him. he's really smart. So i feel he's a really clever player and France will enjoy him because they need (Paul) Pogba, (Antoine) Griezmann and other players (of high quality).”
Kante played a starring role in Chelsea’s Champions League triumph, fixing match-winning shifts within the 1-0 convert Manchester City within the final and in both the semi-final legs against Real Madrid. “I will now be surprised if he's not a contender for Ballon d’Or. he's the sole player to win the person of the Match award in both semi-finals and therefore the final (of the Champions League). he's really a top player who can change the sport ,” said Saha.
The former United and Everton forward lauded PSG star Kylian Mbappe for continuing to enhance since his heroics for France during the 2018 World Cup triumph. “He has made some huge improvements by being very consistent. it had been such an enormous standard that he set at the planet Cup. to take care of the type of hype he had at that point seemed impossible. He has managed to still be one among the foremost talented players within the world and has kept improving his game. He can play a touch better now as a No. 9 than before,” said Saha.
“I think he needs maybe to still improve in terms of the sacrifice he must make so as for 11 players to defend as a block. this is often something he must devour from Cristiano Ronaldo or older players but i feel he has been just a tremendous talent who was really, really young during the planet Cup. he's still a baby. I made massive improvements as a player at 27, 28 years, so imagine what he can become.”
Saha, who was a part of the France side that reached the 2006 World Cup final, also said that having Karim Benzema back within the national team fold and therefore the presence of Olivier Giroud will give the side more confidence. “(Benzema brings) more confidence, more options. He brings more quality within the final third. Every touch of his is that the right one, with the proper timing and has the proper weight for a pass,” he said.
“Olivier may be a target man. he's very efficient also inside the box… It is sensible to possess Benzema and Giroud within the squad. It does bring more options and more quality ahead of goal.”
Talking about the threat of a rise in injuries during the tournament after a tightly-packed season, Saha said: “It’s definitely a risk because there have been numerous games this season and there wasn’t much of an opportunity . it had been like maybe every week for a few players. Some players played within the Champions League final then played four-five days later again. I follow Man United and that i was basically turning on the TV every two days to observe them play. I cannot even imagine it as a lover , therefore the players must be tired. it had been a horrendous amount of games. If you see the standard of the performances drop a touch bit, i might say it's normal.”
Asked for his semi-final picks, Saha said Robert Lewandowski’s Poland could go far within the tournament. “I see France, Poland – i feel they're very talented – England and Belgium within the semi-finals,” he said.
