Paris Saint-Germain are continuing their long-running pursuit of N'Golo Kante, with the latest reports suggesting that sporting director Antero Henrique has met with the Chelsea midfielder's agent in London and Paris over recent weeks in order to discover his future intentions.

That is according to Paris United, who claim Kante's official representative - Karim Douis - and part of his entourage are keen for him to sign for PSG and that the former Boulogne and Caen man, also on the radar of reigning European champions Real Madrid, is no longer completely dismissive of a potential return to his native France.

The report goes on to state that Chelsea, looking to restructure their midfield as they keep an eye on the likes of Amiens' Tanguy Ndombele, Napoli's Amadou Diawara and Jean Michael Seri of Nice, would look to receive around €80million (£70.3million) for a player they signed from Leicester City in a £30m deal back in July 2016.

PSG remain hot on the trail of Chelsea's industrious midfielder N'Golo Kante (right)

Kante's agent has reportedly met with PSG director Antero Henrique in both London and Paris

Prominent agent Pini Zahavi, who was involved in Neymar's world-record move to the Parc des Princes from Barcelona last year, is said to have a key role in any potential deal, particularly in terms of sourcing an adequate replacement for Chelsea.

Links between PSG, also pursuing Julian Weigl following the appointment of former Borussia Dortmund boss Thomas Tuchel, and Kante are certainly nothing new and last month the 27-year-old insisted he had not received any approaches from interested parties while reiterating that he was only focused on the World Cup in Russia.

However, it has been claimed that many of Chelsea's FA Cup-winning stars have become concerned by the delay in tying down a replacement for Antonio Conte, who is still expected to leave Stamford Bridge this summer following a woeful defence of the title he claimed in his maiden season at the helm.

Just as he was during Leicester's shock title success in 2016 with his sheer energy, incredible work rate, tackling prowess and combativeness, Kante was a crucial figure in that Chelsea triumph and subsequently received several high-profile individual honours including the PFA Player of the Year award.

It is said that Kante is no longer completely reluctant to return to his native France

He has made a total of 89 appearances across all competitions for the Blues in two seasons, including 48 last term as they not only failed to defend their crown but also missed out on a place in the top four.

Kante will be a key cog of France's star-studded midfield as they aim to banish memories of their painful Euro 2016 final defeat on home soil and Les Bleus head coach Didier Deschamps reportedly made it expressly clear that he wanted all transfer business involving his players to be completed by the weekend before the tournament gets underway.

Following a somewhat disappointing final warm-up friendly draw against the United States in Lyon at the weekend, a game in which Kante featured for the full 90 minutes, France flew into Moscow's Sheremetyevo International Airport on Sunday before arriving at their World Cup base at the Hilton Garden Inn, New Riga.

Deschamps' side open their Group C campaign against Australia in Kazan on Saturday before facing Peru in Yekaterinburg and Denmark in Moscow.