West Ham and Chelsea may be rivals but that has not stopped Slaven Bilic admiring N’Golo Kante.

Bilic revealed that Kante is his favourite Chelsea player and praised the French international.

The Hammers boss also praised Besiktas midfielder Atiba Hutchinson and stated that under different circumstances he could have been Chelsea’s Kante.

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“Playing in that position you can go under the radar, Kante could have gone to Trabzonspor instead of Leicester City and Atiba could have gone to Leicester,” Bilic was quoted as saying by Turkish-Football.

“Nobody could have predicted the rise of Leicester so Kante was fortunate but this is how it works in football.

“Atiba is just as good a player but I do admire Kante, he is my favourite Chelsea player.”

Kante played a major role in Leicester winning the league title for the first time ever last season.

The France international joined Chelsea over the summer transfer window and barring a miracle he will probably lift the league title against this season.

Bilic formerly coached Atiba during his time in charge of Besiktas.

The Canada international played an instrumental role in the Black Eagles winning the league title last season and the Istanbul giants are currently first in the league, favourites to defend their title.