Jamie O’Hara has said that Manchester City lynchpin Rodri is better than Chelsea legend N’Golo Kante.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the controversial pundit made this claim after vouching for the £63 million (ESPN) man to get into an all-time Premier League XI.
Jamie O’Hara has also gone as far as to say that Rodri has been a better defensive midfielder in the league than N’Golo Kante.
Jamie O’Hara says Rodri is better than Kante
Branded as ‘extraordinary’ by Pep Guardiola, the former Atletico Madrid lynchpin is inarguably the best defensive midfielder in the world.
In fact, for the last two seasons and taking into account his start to the 2023/2024 campaign as well, the Spanish international is in a league of his own compared to the rest.
Now, Jamie O’Hara has said that Rodri has reached a level at which one can safely claim that he is better than N’Golo Kante.
“I think he’s better than Kante”, he said.
“If you’re talking about a holding midfielder who you’d want in your side, Rodri or Kante, I would say Rodri.”
“He’s got everything. Kante can’t do what Rodri can do, Rodri can do what Kante can do.”
Rodri has outdone the Frenchman in the No.6 role in the Premier League
While many might consider this take as egregious, Jamie O’Hara is right in saying that if picking either Rodri or N’Golo Kante as a defensive midfielder, the former would be the superior option.
One of the reasons why is because many often forget that the World Cup winner only operated as a No.6 for two seasons.
While he was terrific in Leicester City’s fairytale Premier League winning campaign as well as during Antonio Conte’s title-winning season as well, the Frenchman went on to be deployed as a box-to-box midfielder for the rest of his time in the Premier League.
The same cannot be said for Rodri, who has much more to his game as a holding midfielder than N’Golo Kante.
Whilst Kante is more athletic than the treble-winner, the latter’s reading of danger remains incredibly high while in possession, he is simply on another level to the former.
