Goodbye to the Premier League’s pint-sized midfield giant, dual title winner N’Golo Kante

N’Golo Kante was a marvellous mixture or humility and ability who won Premier League titles at two clubs. There is only one sadness as he departs, writes HENRY WINTER.

N'Golo Kante of Chelsea celebrates with the Premier League trophy in 2017. Picture: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

When N’Golo Kante arrived at the King Power or Stamford Bridge on match-days, he always interacted with fans leaning over the railings to salute this marvellous mixture of humility and ability. He high-fived them back. Most players do that. Kante did more, he had eye contact with supporters as he passed, acknowledging fellow human beings, and invariably smiling, understanding his privilege at playing the game he loves.

And that’s why Kante is so loved, his popularity extending far beyond those Leicester City, Chelsea and France fans who delighted in the trophies and joy and memories he brought them. Kante smiled, endearingly self-consciously, as he amassed silverware. The game’s about glory and Kante’s trophy sequence reads like a Boys’ Own dream: Premier League (2016 and 2017), FA Cup and World Cup (2018), Europa League (2019), Champions League and Nations League, Uefa Super Cup and Fifa Club World Cup (2021). Beyond the League Cup and Community Shield, he’s won it all.

He now leaves the Premier League for the Saudi League. Those who decry the lure of Jeddah, rightly so given human rights issues and moves being about money not glory, do also need to understand the perspective of a Muslim footballer. Also from Chelsea’s perspective, the move makes sense as injuries keep inhibiting the 32-year-old.

N’Golo Kante in action for Chelsea against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge last season. His time has come to move on. Picture: Visionhaus/Getty Images

Just because Kante had a storming game at the Bridge against Liverpool on April 4, walking off to a standing ovation, and later driving off in his Mini to another raucous fanfare, doesn’t mean Kante should be kept on. His race is probably run at elite level. But what a race and what a thoroughbred.

Kante leaves as a Premier League great. He leaves as a magnificent role model, a modest winner who let his football do the talking, who lived a quiet life, observing his faith, and respecting his teammates, managers and employers. He leaves as a player whose reputation will be defined as small of frame, but with a temperament built for the big occasion. The more challenging the game, including elite finals for club and country, the bigger Kante’s influence.

That stemmed from his coaches at his first club, Suresnes, to the west of Paris, Pierre Ville and Tomasz Byzmek, playing him in years above, making him battle bigger opponents. Only 5ft 6in, Kante went on to fight hard but fairly in the midfield cauldron, and was never dismissed in 309 games for Leicester and Chelsea. He was rarely riled. He was simply focused. And he was very good, combining determination with a burst of acceleration of five yards to win the ball, and a calmness and technique to deliver it to friendly feet. In 2015, Kante cost Leicester City only £5.6 million from Caen, an agent’s fee nowadays, and within a year was a champion. He was everywhere on the pitch for Leicester, his heat map scorching all four corners of the field. “People think we play with two in the midfield,” Steve Walsh, Leicester’s head of recruitment at the time, was famously fond of saying. “No. In midfield we play three: Danny Drinkwater in the middle with Kante either side.”

N’Golo Kante in action for Leicester City at Old Trafford. Picture: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

He came top of the Premier League list for most tackles (175) and interceptions (157). Jamie Vardy was convinced that Kante enjoyed giving the ball away in the pre-training rondos so he could go in the middle and win it back.

Vardy and Riyad Mahrez earned the respective individual awards when it came to the football writers’ and footballers’ votes that season. But when it came to the Leicester dressing-room, Kante won the players’ player of the year. His peers were indebted to his work in the engine room, and his relentless desire to win the ball back.

Inevitably, bigger clubs came calling. Chelsea finished tenth that year, 31 points behind Kante, Vardy, Mahrez and all the miracle men of the East Midlands. They signed him for £30 million, instantly solidifying their midfield and strengthening their mentality, and winning the title by seven points from Tottenham Hotspur. Kante was footballer of the year.

N’Golo Kante poses with the Premier League trophy at The King Power Stadium in 2016 after the Foxes’ magical league triumph. Picture: Michael Regan/Getty Images

In big games, against big names, Kante delivered, even scoring against big ‘keepers. His victims included Liverpool’s Alisson, Manchester United’s David de Gea, Tottenham’s Hugo Lloris and Manchester City’s Ederson. He loved the big games. Take Chelsea’s 2021 Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid. Kante did more than take it. He seized it by both legs. He was named man of the match at the Bridge and the Bernabeu. In the final, when Manchester City tried to build up steam, Kante derailed them, darting in ahead of Ilkay Gundogan to regain possession, sliding in to steer the ball away from a stunned Kevin De Bruyne, then pickpocketing Mahrez the spilt second before he was about to shoot. Kante was man of the match.

All the while, as he scaled the heights, Kante kept a low profile. His last tweet was in July 2019 and that was at the behest of a sponsor. He’s posted one message on Instagram in a year and that was to mark his arrival in Jeddah. The one time he got remotely carried away posting was with two pictures of him dispossessing Lionel Messi at the 2018 World Cup and, typical Kante, his caption was thanking France fans for their continued support.

The only sadness is that Kante leaves without the chance for fans to high-five a special person and player.

– The Times

Originally published as Goodbye to the Premier League’s pint-sized midfield giant, dual title winner N’Golo Kante