N’Golo Kante was a refreshing as much as a deserving recipient of the PFA Player of the Year award this season.The Chelsea star – who has played all but one of the Blues’ league matches so far this campaign – is the first non-attacking player to earn the accolade since Steven Gerrard in 2006.Kante has been brilliant from the first minute of the Premier League campaign and at times made watching midfield legwork as appealing as goalscoring.

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It is hardly a surprise he picked up the award despite there being a host other contenders who probably would have won it in any other season.

The fact Kante pipped the likes of Eden Hazard, Harry Kane, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez only underlines the quality and consistency of his performances.

Meanwhile, the PFA in Scotland has been compiling its shortlist for their respective Player of the Year award.

With Celtic strolling to a sixth consecutive league title in early April, several members of the champions’ were always likely to feature in the final four-man shortlist.

Despite three of his players in Scott Sinclair, Moussa Dembele and Stuart Armstrong making the cut alongside Aberdeen winger Jonny Hayes, Brendan Rodgers could not believe club captain Scott Brown was excluded.

When asked about his thoughts on the selection, the former Liverpool boss expressed his surprise before making a bizarre comparison between Brown and Chelsea’s Kante.

“I am very surprised,” he said, as per the Independent.

“I look at Kante down south, a central midfield player who is not flash and does the dirty work — but does it to a real top level.

“For us up here, I think that's what Scott Brown does. I don't know how he was last year, but consistently over 50-odd games this season he has been a top performer.

“He has had one bad game, Hearts away (as Celtic clinched the league). Every other game he was eight out of ten, nine out of ten."

Naturally, his comments have sparked a swift response on Twitter.

All credit to Rodgers and his side for continuing their dominance for yet another season, but perhaps the Northern Irishman has gone a step too far by comparing one of his players with arguably the best midfielder on the planet right now.