N’Golo Kante’s early career
Just a few years back, nobody knew who N’Golo Kante was. Not only around the world, but in France too. He was a small kid playing for 8th division Suresnes. None of the big clubs in the region were interested. Paris SG missed him and so did Lorient, Sochaux, Rennes as well as the French national academy at Clairefontaine.
“It was because he was a little guy, not spectacular. He did not play for himself, he played for the team,” – Suresnes’ deputy manager Pierre Ville
That doesn’t mean he didn’t show signs of greatness early.
“He always listened very carefully and the decisions he made on the pitch were very intelligent. I always put him with the weakest kids because his efforts counted for double.” – Piotr Wojtyna, one of Kante’s former coaches
Eventually, Kante moved to Boulogne where slowly but surely people started to take notice.
“One day we did a running test. You needed to run at your maximum and it was him who killed the test,”
“He kept running after everyone had stopped, going around the track. “
– Brentford defender Maxime Colin
Kante’s parents came over to France from Mali during the 1980s. They were trying to make a living and didn’t have much time to take care of the boy, so he learned to rely on himself and himself only.
“If you offer him a lift, most of the time he says “no I will go by myself”. That’s why he is so strong mentally, he came from really low and did all this by himself.”
N’Golo Kante’s move to England
He was the third division’s player of the season with Boulougne, was named in the team of the season once he moved to second-tier Caen and also in Ligue 1’s team of the season after Caen was promoted. All those accomplishments caught Claudio Ranieri’s attention. The experienced Italian manager brought him to Leicester City for a fee of €6.3 million. In his lone season with the club, he won the Premier League. Amazing, right? Especially for a 1.68 m. defensive midfielder.
Next, Chelsea came calling. The €34 million The Blues paid to bring “Mighty Mouse” to London seems like a bargain now. He helped Conte lead Chelsea to a Championship as well. In five years, he has gone from a relatively unknown player to the best defensive midfielder in the world. The statistics support that notion. Since coming to the Premier League, Kante has made more tackles and interceptions than any other player. Only five players have covered more distance, he doesn’t get injured, rarely gets booked and has never been sent off.
N’Golo Kante’s 2018 World Cup
The World Cup has been no different. Since the beginning of the competition, Kante has recovered 40 balls (two less than the leader in the category Luka Modric) and has made 17 interceptions (three less than leader Roman Zobnin). His role for France is the same like any other club he has played for and his style never changes. NG is always around the ball, turns up like a shadow behind opposition players, cages their freedom and has the stamina to play forever.
“It’s so easy to play with “NG” (Kante’s nickname)”
“He is everywhere. He must have 15 lungs.” – Paul Pogba
N’Golo Kante is simply unstoppable. Opponants know exactly who he is and what he does best but have no idea how to prevent him suceeding. He is a huge reason why France is getting closer and closer to the World Cup final in Russia and why Les Bleus have a great chance at winning it all.
