Footage emerges of N’Golo Kante and Ben Chilwell goal celebration agreement as Christian Pulisic pokes fun at Chelsea star
N'Golo Kante made a goal celebration agreement with Ben Chilwell before Christian Pulisic poked fun at the Chelsea star in training.
The France international has had an injury-ravaged campaign this season and has not played since a 2-2 draw against Tottenham in August.
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Graham Potter has not been able to see the midfielder in action since taking over from Thomas Tuchel but he is back in the squad on Saturday to face Everton.
It comes after a couple of weeks of first-team training, though the Chelsea boss has been keen to integrate Kante back into the first-team fold with extreme care considering his injury problems.
But the World Cup winner has not taken long to mingle with his teammates, many of whom he might have just met for the first time after a litany of arrivals in January.
Two Kante would be familiar with are Chilwell and Pulisic, who he joked around with in a training session.
Chilwell asked the Frenchman if he could perform a knee slide if he scores on his first game back from injury.
The left-back said: "Yeah, knee slide. Next goal you score you have to knee slide."
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Kante replied: "If I score on first game back, I'll knee slide."
The two Chelsea players then shook hands on the matter, before shaking an awaiting Mykhailo Mudryk's hand with gusto.
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Pulisic, who was stood nearby, chimed in and said: "I want to see it so bad.
"This guy could score in a World Cup final and celebrate like this and he'll be like this..."
The United States international then did a little run on the spot to poke some jovial fun at Kante, who is usually quite modest with his goal celebrations.
In fact, the 31-year-old does not usually get on the scoresheet, so might be forgiven for looking a little sheepish when he does.
In 262 appearances for Chelsea, Kante has scored just 13 times - but his prowess in front of goal is not why he is regarded as one of the best players in the world.
His incredible work-rate combined with an unrelenting ability to win the ball has been praised throughout his career and has led him to being a key part of successful sides such as Chelsea's Champions League-winning squad in 2021 and France's 2018 World Cup-winning team.
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