Former England defender Martin Keown believes N'Golo Kante could be the greatest defensive midfielder ever seen.

After Chelsea's Champions League final victory over Arsenal, Keown wrote for the Daily Mail: "The Manchester City passing machine could not get going and that was largely because of N'Golo Kante throwing a spanner in the works.

"It is no coincidence that the France team who won the last World Cup and the Chelsea team who just won the Champions League have Kante.

"He is that immense. It felt like Saturday's final could have gone on until midnight and he would have still been running up and down the pitch, such was his desire to disrupt City.

"Right now, there is not a finer defensive midfielder in the world than the all-action Kante. Is he the best ever? That is hard to say. You could definitely make a case.

"I was blessed to play behind Patrick Vieira and Gilberto Silva. Those players provide you with pure protection and you feel safer with them in front of you. Kante gives that to this Chelsea defence."