N'golo Kante - The Premier League's Finest

The Premier League’s Finest 

N’golo Kante is a very successful French footballer who plays for Chelsea F.C. In his first two seasons in the Premier League he has won the title twice. Kante has played seventy-two matches and won fifty of them giving him a 72%-win ratio in the Premier League. In addition to that N’golo Kante has been nominated for the PFA team of the year twice and has won both the Premier League Player of the Season and PFA Player’s Player of the year awards. Kante has proven himself both on the club and international stages of football. 

 

Early Career

 Kante began his career in his home country of France. He played for Boulogne’s youth and senior squads, who notably have produced the likes of Frank Ribery of Bayern Munich and Diafra Sakho of West Ham. Kante only played one full season with the third-tier French club. He then moved on and transferred to Caen who at the time were a second division team. In his first season at the club his side finished third which granted them promotion into Ligue 1, the top tier league in France. The next season wasn’t anything special for Caen, but they did remain in the top flight. 

Kante’s personal performances though did earn him some attention. Kante recovered the ball more times for his club that season than anyone else it world football. Clubs started to take notice of him when Leicester City Scout, Steve Walsh, helped the English club sign him for a fee less than ten million dollars. At the time though Leicester were not a top-quality club. They just escaped relegation in the last few matches of the season. The signing of Kante would change that around and he became one of the main reasons for the club’s Cinderella story the following season.   

Leicester’s Shocking Triumph 

The 2015/2016 Premier League campaign was a strange one since the bigger club’s all had very poor seasons for their standards. This allowed for some lower teams have a chance to fight for the top places in the table. Who would have thought though that after fifteen matches had been played for each team that Leicester City would be leading the title race? After months of competing with Arsenal, Manchester City, and Tottenham, Leicester finally won the title after Tottenham lost a game to Chelsea. This was truly a Cinderella story.   

In Leicester’s campaign, there were of course many standout players. Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy both won awards for their fantastic seasons. Kante was rewarded as well for his efforts. He made the PFA Team of the Season in just his first year as a Premier League player. He also had a case to win the PFA player of the year which went to Mahrez. Kante on the offensive side had managed almost one and a half thousand passes, in just thirty-seven matches. Defensively he was even more impressive. The French International won 124 tackles and intercepted 156 passes. His personal performances won him attention from larger clubs yet again. This time it was Chelsea F.C whom Kante chose to be his new club.   

The Pride of London 

Kante transferred to Chelsea for a fee around forty-one million dollars. The Blues had struggled the previous season when Leicester won the Premier League. Chelsea only managed to grab tenth place, which is not very good for their standards, especially when they had won the title the year before. Chelsea cruised through the first couple games of the 2016/2017 campaign. It was only when they started to play the big clubs that trouble arose. Chelsea lost two straight matches a 2-1 loss to Liverpool then an embarrassing 3-0 loss to club rivals Arsenal. Club manager Antonio Conte then switched formation to a 3-4-3, which had N’golo playing alongside Nemanja Matic in the central midfielder role. It was after this switch that Chelsea found their rhythm. The Blues won their next thirteen matches tying the most matches won in a row record. It was in match week twelve when Chelsea moved into first. Then nobody could catch them, though Tottenham gave them a bit of a scare towards the end. Chelsea won the Premier League Title with the most wins in a single Premier League season. It was an amazing accomplishment for Kante and his teammates.  

Player of the Year 

N’golo Kante’s second Premier League campaign was even more successful than his first. His team won the title and he was also named in the PFA Team of the Season. The Frenchman’s biggest achievement came with the PFA Player’s Player of the Year Award and Premier League Player of the Season. It was a deserved award since Kante completed 2,122 passes and won 83 tackles and 82 interceptions. It was the First time a player has won back-to-back titles with different clubs since Eric Cantona did it with Leeds United and Manchester United.  

Euro 2016 

Kante’s first competitive game for his country came in the 2016 Euros in which France was the host. He started against Romania where France went on to win and Kante assisted a Dmitri Payet goal. He played in three other matches in the tournament. Even though Kante was available to play in the final against Portugal, he was left out of the starting eleven and not even used as a substitute. France lost the game in front of their own crowd, but maybe if Kante played the game might have been a bit different.  

What now for Kante? 

The 2017/2018 Premier League season is less than forty days away. It looks like Kante will stay with the Blues for the upcoming campaign. Chelsea gained qualification for the Champions League, so Kante will get the chance to play in a European league for the first time. Kante could also have a new partner in the center midfield position. Fellow Frenchman Tiemoue Bakayoko looks to be set to a move to Stanford Bridge.  

N’golo Kante 

Kante will never be a Ronaldo or Messi. He is a unique player just as they are. He uses his strengths to the best of his ability. Though he is small he figures out ways to muscle of those larger than him off the ball. In his case size, doesn’t matter. Though he doesn’t score a lot of goals, he does save his team from conceding them. He is a humble player on the pitch and a humble person off the pitch. Kante accepts referee’s decisions and just plays on. He doesn’t get into fights with other players because he respects them and they respect him back. He is an irreplaceable player who can accomplish great things as he is only twenty-six and has a ton of football ahead of him.