It is instructive that as soon as you start talking to N’Golo Kante about the season just gone, one in which he was unsurprisingly recognised by Blues supporters as our Player of the Year, he consistently opts for the first person plural: ‘we, us, our’.

Kante is not a man who relishes focusing on himself, on or off the pitch. He can seem like the most understated footballer around; it makes his routine effectiveness even more satisfying to watch.

‘You have to think like a team,’ he responds when we ask him how he thinks his season went.

‘We cannot be happy about it because we didn’t reach all our targets, but we finished in the best way by winning the FA Cup final. That means a lot. It was a beautiful moment, and a team effort. We suffered together.’

Kante suffered plenty for the team’s benefit. He always does. On a hot Wembley afternoon, he stifled numerous Manchester United attacks, winning a game-high six tackles and also chipping in with four interceptions.

Both those numbers were greater than his already exceptionally-high season average. In the Premier League, his 2.5 interceptions a game was the joint-highest figure recorded. He ranked third for successful tackles, averaging 3.3 every 90 minutes in arguably the world’s most competitive division.