N’Golo Kanté was granted compassionate leave to miss Chelsea’s second day of phase one training because of the midfielder’s fears over the coronavirus.
While Kanté took part in Chelsea’s return to small group training on Tuesday after registering a negative coronavirus test, the France World Cup winner has concerns regarding attempts to resume the Premier League season. The 29-year-old is not convinced that it is safe to train while the UK remains in the grip of the pandemic and was given full consent to miss Wednesday’s session by Frank Lampard and the club.
Lampard fully supports Kanté’s stance and it is not known when the Frenchman, who trained at home yesterday, will return. Kanté’s elder brother Niamh died of a heart attack shortly before the 2018 World Cup and he lost his father when he was 11 years old.
Kanté, a quiet character who is understood to have largely remained indoors with one of his brothers since the suspension of the season, also experienced a health scare when he collapsed in front of his teammates at Chelsea’s training ground two years ago. Tests did not reveal any heart concerns but the former Leicester player missed Chelsea’s next game.
Source: Guardian
