Cesc Fabregas has insisted that Chelsea teammate N'Golo Kante is an all-round midfielder and is worthy of even more plaudits than he is current receiving.
The France international has been tipped to win the PFA Player of the Year award at the end of the campaign after playing a pivotal role in the Blues' charge to the Premier League title.
Kante built up a reputation as a no-nonsense midfielder capable of breaking up play and distributing possession during his time with Leicester City, but Fabregas is adamant that the 25-year-old has far more to his repertoire and is not simply one-dimensional.
"Unfortunately, football nowadays is based on your reputation," he told the club's official website. "Now N'Golo is becoming famous for chasing around and making tackles that recover the ball and end up in goals, but he does other things very well.
"But because this is now his reputation, people just look into this and they don't look to see if he does something else. I think we are winners as a group. We hate losing but every manager is the leader of the team and he is like that too. So it makes us show it in a more positive way."
Kante scored just his second goal of the season for Chelsea on Monday night in the 1-0 FA Cup win over Manchester United, with his previous strike also coming against the Red Devils in October.
Daniel Lewis
