What does he do to help himself stay so fit and so focused, we wonder as we sit down with the understated 25-year-old at Cobham. He has missed just one league game because of injury in the past four-and-a-half seasons.

‘I think there are some things you can control and some other things you can’t,’ Kante points out.

‘Me, I just try to work on my ‘invisible training’, as we call it in French – things away from the pitch and the training ground. I try to sleep very well, to eat very well and to do the best for my health and my body.

‘Sometimes you are more tired, but this is football. We play often, we sometimes have three games a week, and you have to manage your fitness well.

‘Then before the game I try to think about my job,’ he adds. ‘And when I am on the pitch I want to do the best I am able to.

‘I don’t think about other things, the crowd, the referee, the other players. I am just focused on what I have to do. There are some who don’t get the chance to play and I know that.’

Kante is quick to rebuke any comparisons with players in his mould, including Claude Makelele who he admits he rarely saw play. In fact, growing up, the position of defensive midfielder did not interest him; he wanted to be like Diego Maradona or the Brazilian Ronaldo. It’s unlikely either would have turned their nose up at the dribbling and finishing on display for his solitary Chelsea goal to date, against Manchester United earlier this season.