Full name N'Golo Kanté Playing position 1999–2010 JS Suresnes Weight 68 kg | Place of birth Paris, France Number 7 Height 1.69 m Nationality Malian, French | |
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Date of birth (1991-03-29) 29 March 1991 (age 27) Current teams Chelsea F.C. (#7 / Midfielder), France national football team (#13 / Midfielder) Similar Riyad Mahrez, Eden Hazard, Diego Costa, Dimitri Payet, Antonio Conte Profiles | ||
N'Golo Kanté (born 29 March 1991) is a French professional footballer who plays as a central midfielder for the English club Chelsea and the France national team.
Contents
- N golo kant sm caen goals assists skills 2014 2015 hd
- Boulogne
- Caen
- Leicester City
- Chelsea
- International career
- Style of play
- Club
- International
- International goals
- Individual
- References
He made his senior debut at Boulogne and then spent two seasons at Caen, the latter in Ligue 1. In 2015, he joined Leicester City for a fee of £5.6 million, winning the Premier League in his only season at the club. The following year, he joined Chelsea for a reported fee of £32 million.
Kanté made his senior international debut for France in 2016. He was included in their squad that finished runners-up at that year's European Championship.
N golo kant sm caen goals assists skills 2014 2015 hd
Boulogne
Born in Paris, Kanté began his career at the age of eight for local club JS Suresnes, and remained there for 11 years. In 2010, he joined the reserve team of Boulogne. He made his professional debut in the last game of the Ligue 2 season on 18 May 2012, a 1–2 home defeat for his already relegated team to Monaco, replacing Virgile Reset for the final 11 minutes.
During the 2012–13 season, he played in the third-tier Championnat National, missing only one league game. On 10 August, he scored his first senior goal, the only one in a win over Luzenac at the Stade de la Libération, and he added two more over the campaign.
Caen
In 2013, he joined Ligue 2 side Caen and played all 38 games in his first season as they came third in Ligue 2, earning them promotion to Ligue 1. In his second game on 9 August, he scored his first goal to equalise in a 2–1 win at Laval; he levelled again with his other goal of the campaign on 11 April 2014, in a 3–2 win at Istres.
The following season, Kanté played 37 games as Caen remained in the top flight; his one absence was suspension through being sent off in a 0–1 home loss to Rennes on 30 August. Three weeks earlier, he scored their first goal of the season in a 3–0 win at Evian.
Leicester City
Kanté was scouted for Premier League club Leicester City by Steve Walsh, who had previously facilitated the transfers of Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez to the team. On 3 August 2015, he joined Leicester on a four-year contract, for an undisclosed fee reported to be €8 million (£5.6 million). He made his debut five days later by replacing Vardy for the final eight minutes of a 4–2 home win over Sunderland. On 7 November, he scored his first Premier League goal in a 2–1 home win against Watford.
He earned much praise and many plaudits for his consistently impressive displays for Leicester, and was widely considered to be a major factor in the club's excellent form as they went on to win the Premier League, consistently making a high number of tackles and interceptions. In April, having made a season-record 149 tackles, he was one of four Leicester players named in the PFA Team of the Year. By the end of the season, Kanté had managed 175 tackles and 157 interceptions, more than any other player in the 2015-16 Premier League.
Kanté was the only key member of the squad to leave the club in the summer of 2016. His departure proved a major factor in Leicester's sharp decline in form in the 2016–17 season, as the club was unable to find an equally skilled midfielder to replace him.
Chelsea
On 16 July 2016, Kanté signed for Chelsea for a reported fee of £32 million. After signing a five-year contract with the club, Kanté said: "I am so happy to have signed for one of the biggest clubs in Europe. It’s a dream come true for me." Kanté was given the number 7 shirt, left vacant since the exit of Ramires in January.
On 15 August 2016, Kanté made his competitive debut in their season opener against West Ham United. Although he picked up a yellow in the first three minutes of the game, he shone as the game went on, to help Chelsea to a 2–1 victory. Three months after his move to London, he faced his former side, Leicester City for the first time, and was Man of the Match in a 3–0 victory. On 23 October, he scored his first goal for Chelsea in a 4–0 home win against Manchester United. After the 2–0 Premier League victory against Southampton at St Mary's on 30 October, he was one of only four outfield Chelsea players to have played every minute of Chelsea's first ten Premier League matches of the 2016-2017 season.
On 13 March 2017, Kanté was named man of the match and scored the only goal in the 51st minute, in an FA Cup quarter-final win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
International career
Born to Malian parents, Kanté was approached by Mali ahead of the 2015 African Cup of Nations having not played for France in any of their age group teams. Kanté declined on the basis that he was still trying to establish himself in Ligue 1. Mali issued a further invitation to Kanté in January 2016, although he stated that he was still undecided about which national team to represent should he get an invite from France.
On 17 March 2016, Kanté was selected for the France senior squad for the first time to face the Netherlands and Russia in friendlies. He made his debut against the former eight days later, replacing Lassana Diarra at half time in a 3–2 win at the Amsterdam Arena. On his 25th birthday, 29 March, he made his first start and scored to open a 4–2 win over Russia at the Stade de France; fellow birthday celebrant Dimitri Payet also scored.
On 10 June, Kanté appeared in his first competitive match for France by starting the opening match of Euro 2016 against Romania; he played the entire match, made the most passes, the most tackles, the most interceptions, covered the most distance on the pitch and assisted Dimitri Payet's winning goal in a 2–1 victory. In the round of 16 match against the Republic of Ireland at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Kanté picked up a yellow card in the 27th minute (his second of Euro 2016 which would cause him to be suspended from the quarter-final) and was replaced with Kingsley Coman in the 46th minute with the French trailing 0–1 at half time. Kanté was unused in the final, which France lost 1–0 to Portugal after extra time.
Style of play
After his first senior goal, French regional newspaper La Voix du Nord likened Kanté to Claude Makélélé in his early days at Nantes, due to their similar playing style and role in midfield. After asking the player if he considered Makélélé his role model, Kanté instead said that his was Lassana Diarra. Makélélé himself in February 2017 said that the one attribute Kanté needed to become an "exceptional player" would be leadership.
Known for his energy and excellent ball-winning abilities, during his title-winning season with Leicester, Kanté led the Premier League in both tackles and pass interceptions. Alex Ferguson claimed during that season that "Kanté is by far the best player in the league".