N'Golo Kanté
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 07/2016
Personal information
Date of birth
29 March 1991
Place of birth
Paris, France
Height
1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Playing position
Midfielder
Club information
Current team
Chelsea
France
Chelsea Season 2016
Article
Youth career
JS Suresnes
2001-2010
Boulogne
2010-2011
Senior career*
Boulogne
2011-2013
38x apps / 3x goals
Caen
2013-2015
75x apps / 4x goals
Leicester City
2015-2016
37x apps / 1x goal
Chelsea
2016-
0x apps / 0x goal
National team
France
2016-
8x apps / 1x goal
(* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 13 May 2016 - National team caps and goals correct as of 20:59, 7 July 2016 (UTC)
N'Golo Kanté is a French professional footballer who plays for the English club Chelsea and the France national team as a central midfielder.
He made his senior debut at Boulogne and then spent two seasons at Caen, the latter in Ligue 1.
In 2015, he signed for Leicester City for a fee of €8 million, winning the Premier League in his only season before signing for Chelsea.
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.
Club career
Boulogne
Born in Paris, Kanté began his career at Suresnes before moving to 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 Jamie Vardy for the final eight minutes of a 4:2 home win over Sunderland and scored his first Premier League goal against Watford in a 2:1 win at the King Power Stadium on 7 November.
He earned much praise and many plaudits for his consistently impressive displays for Leicester City, and is widely considered to be a major factor in the club's excellent form in the 2015-16 season, 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.
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."
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, playing the full 90 minutes and making the most passes, the most tackles, the most interceptions, and also covered the most distance on the pitch.
He assisted Dimitri Payet's winning goal in a 2:1 victory.
In the last 16 against the Republic of Ireland in Lille, he was substituted for Kingsley Coman with the French losing 0:1 at half time, having already picked up a booking that suspended him from the quarter-final.
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 FC Nantes.
After asking the player if he considered Makélélé his role model, Kanté instead said that his was Lassana Diarra.
DID YOU KNOW
- France manager Didier Deschamps praising Kanté after a warm-up game against Scotland in June 2016.
Everything looks simple and easy with Kante.
And I know that it is not always easy, I have played in the same position.
Sometimes, it is difficult.
But N'Golo Kanté knows what he has to do and he does it well, very well, for the team.
He can relaunch the game. I am happy for him.
He is a discreet man, he is quiet but he is here.
And he always smiles.
In March, he showed already many qualities.
I am not anxious.
He has a fluent game.
Everything he does is fluent.
“
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