Former Chelsea and Leicester City goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer fears N’Golo Kante’s energetic style of play may have finally taken its toll on the midfield dynamo.

The 29-year-old was limited to just 28 appearances for the Blues last season, with minor injuries keeping him sidelined after featuring in 53 matches during the previous campaign.

He told Goal: “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. I hope they keep hold of him.”