Cape Town – Former Liverpool striker Dean Saunders slammed Chelsea manager Maurizio Sarri for comments suggesting that N'Golo Kante is not good enough to play central midfield.
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Sarri made the statement after last weekend's 3-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur as Kante endured a rare poor outing in the Premier League and was caught out of position at times too high up the pitch.
The Blues boss said after the match that the France international could not be the playmaker in front of the back four as he lacked the technical ability of Cesc Fabregas and Jorginho.
The 27-year-old has been used in an advanced role in 2018/19 as more of a box-to-box midfielder.
Nonetheless, Saunders, who played for 12 clubs from 1982 until 2001 scoring 190 goals, told talkSPORT: "He's wrong, he's totally wrong (for) what he's saying.
"Kante is the best player in his position in the world. He sees danger and he thinks like a defender.
"Think about it: Danny Drinkwater got in the England squad because he's playing alongside him.
"Paul Pogba wins the World Cup and looks like a player…look who's playing alongside him. David Luiz looked like a centre-half last season, looks who's in front of him and protecting him.
"He is the best player of his type in the world, he's like having two players on the pitch.
"It's that wrong that if I hadn't have heard the interview, if it was in print, I would have thought he'd been stitched up, there's no way he's said all that. But we've just heard it!
"I can't believe he's said that in public. He's hammered him."
