It’s often said that foreigners need time to adapt to the physical nature of English football, but that simply has not been the case for N’Golo Kante.

Born in Paris, the Frenchman played 40 times for Boulogne and 82 times for Caen before moving to Leicester City in August 2015 for a mere £5.6 million.

Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy received much of the plaudits, however Kante was the driving force behind Leicester’s title triumph and he is on course to pick up another Premier League winner’s medal with Chelsea.

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He moved to Stamford Bridge last summer for £32 million and the 25-year-old has continued his unbelievable form – to the point where he is now a regular in Didier Deschamps’ France XI.

15-16 Kante vs 16-17 Kante

Given that, we’ve decided to compare some key statistics from last season to this season. Has Kante been even better for Antonio Conte than he was under Claudio Ranieri? Let’s take a look.

Goals and assists

The all-action man played in 37 of Leicester’s 38 games last campaign and he’s backed that up by missing just one of Chelsea’s 28 league matches this season.

Kante scored just once last season but has two goals to his name in all competitions this term, both coming against Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United.

He provided four assists for Leicester, and while he doesn’t have one this season, the midfielder has made more tackles in the Premier League than anyone in the past three campaigns (even though he’s only been here for two of them!).

Tackles, tackles, tackles

Kante made a whopping 175 tackles (4.73 per game) last season with a 71% success rate, compared to 101 tackles (3.74 per game) with 67% success for Chelsea.

He’s blocked nine shots so far this season (compared to three in the whole of 2015-16) and is averaging 2.3 interceptions every game compared to 4.22 last season.

Kante on the ball

Where Kante seems to have improved most drastically is on the ball, which isn’t surprising given Leicester had around 30% possession in most matches last year.

The little dynamo has made 1,665 passes in the Premier League this season (61.67 per game) which, remarkably, is already 216 more than the 1,449 (39.16 per game) he managed for the Foxes.

Kante created four big chances last term (none yet for Chelsea), but he’s produced 110 accurate long balls for Conte's side – he only managed 63 of those in the whole of last season.

Recovery, duels and discipline

The energetic midfielder has won the ball back a massive 217 times for the Blues (8.04 per match), compared to the ridiculous 326 recoveries he made last term (8.81 per game).

Kante is averaging 1.19 clearances each game, marginally less than the 1.54 he produced last year but, having won 29 50-50s for the west London club, he’s well on his way to matching his previous total of 47.

Despite being just five-foot-six, the France international won an astonishing 277 duels last season and he’s doing pretty much the same this year, winning 161 duels thus far.

In terms of discipline, he’s picked up six yellow cards this season, twice as many as last year, and is averaging 1.48 fouls per game compared to 1.16 at Leicester.

What Kant-he do?!

What this comparison and the numbers prove above all else is just how exceptional Kante has really been in England over the past 20 months or so.

His energy, tackling and defensive awareness is unrivalled, his technical ability has improved, and the Chelsea star is surely the favourite to win the 2016-17 PFA Player of the Year award.

How good has Kante been for both Leicester and Chelsea? Do YOU think he's been the Premier League's best player this season? Have YOUR say in the comments box below!