N'Golo Kanté

Lore & Background

Kanté made his senior professional debut with Boulogne in 2012, appearing as a substitute in one Ligue 2 match, and played an entire season in the third division the following year. After that he joined Ligue 2 side Caen on a free transfer, finished third and won promotion to Ligue 1. He stayed with the club for one more year, where he helped lead the team to a mid-table finish. In 2015, Kanté joined Leicester City for a fee worth £5.6 million. He was an integral part of the Leicester City team that were surprise Premier League champions in 2016. The following year, he joined Chelsea for a fee worth £32 million and again won the league, making him the first outfield player to win consecutive English league titles with different clubs since Eric Cantona in 1992 and 1993. With Chelsea he won the FA Cup, the UEFA Europa League, the UEFA Champions League, the UEFA Super Cup, and the FIFA Club World Cup. After seven seasons with Chelsea, he left on a free transfer to Saudi club Al-Ittihad during the summer of 2023.

In Their Own Story

The King Power Stadium was alive in a way it never had been before. The away end, usually sparse, was packed with travelling supporters who had come to see a team they'd backed at 50/1. Kanté was in the tunnel, lacing his boots, the white and blue of the Leicester shirt stretched tight over his lean frame. He didn't look up when the manager passed. He just nodded, slipped his boots on, and walked out.

The first twenty minutes were scrappy. The opposition sat deep, looking for a counter. Kanté didn't care. He was already in their half, pressing the centre-back, forcing a pass sideways, then tracking back before the ball even reached the full-back. By the thirty-minute mark, he had made eleven tackles. By the hour, the opposition's midfield had gone quiet. They stopped trying to build. They started clearing.

And then, in the seventy-third minute, a loose ball in the box. Kanté was there before anyone else, scooped it up with his first touch, and launched a diagonal pass that found Mahrez one-on-one. The goal was quiet, almost an afterthought. Kanté jogged back to his position, wiped sweat from his brow, and waited for the next phase. He had covered fourteen kilometres. He had one more hour to go.

Reader's Guide

Individually, Kanté has been awarded the Premier League Player of the Season, the PFA Players' Player of the Year, the FWA Footballer of the Year, the UEFA Men's Midfielder of the year, and the Trophées UNFP for Best French Player Abroad twice. He was nominated for the Ballon d'Or in 2017 and 2021, but did not win.

Did You Know?

• Kanté was nominated for the Ballon d'Or in 2017 and 2021, but never won it.
• He is the first outfield player to win consecutive English league titles with different clubs since Eric Cantona in 1992 and 1993.
• Kanté made his senior international debut for France in 2016 and was a key member of the 2018 FIFA World Cup winning squad.