N'Golo Kante 'wants to leave Chelsea' and he prefers Real Madrid over Barcelona - report

N'Golo Kante has been a key figure for Chelsea since he signed from Leicester City in 2016.

But three years, a Premier League and a Europa League later, he's rumoured to be ready for a new challenge.

According to El Desmarque, Kante is wanted by Barcelona, but the La Liga giants are not the player's preference.

Barcelona forward Ousmane Dembele is reportedly pushing the board to sign his compatriot Kante.

If the Blaugrana were to add Kante, they would have a strong French influence running through their team.

Samuel Umtiti, Clement Lenglet, Jean-Clair Todibo and Antoine Griezman are all present in Barça's squad.

However, the Catalan club are reportedly not Kante's first preference, far from it.

The midfielder is believed to prefer a move to Serie A champions Juventus or Bundesliga big boys Bayern Munich.

But his ultimate first-choice is understood to be Barcelona's arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Kante is reported to have a very close relationship with Zinedine Zidane and the Madrid coach has requested that Real sign his fellow countryman.

However, Madrid president Florentino Perez has denied the request because they would have to pay around €100m for a position already occupied by Casemiro.

Perez regards Casemiro as the best holding midfielder in the world and is thought to be in no mind to threaten the Brazilian's position.

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