Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Respectful Kante is walking tall
No flashy cars, crazy mohawks or ‘bling-bling’
HE IS the first man since Eric Cantona to win back-to-back top-flight titles in England with different clubs, the recipient of English football’s most treasured individual awards and was recently described by Frank Lampard as the world’s best midfielder.
For N’Golo Kante, the compliments keep coming. He has already been recognised by his peers as the PFA player of the year, and last week he received the equivalent prize from the Football Writers’ Association.
Kante is only the sixth central midfielder to win the PFA prize, joining Steven Gerrard, Roy Keane, Peter Reid, John Wark and Terry McDermott in the 43-year roll of honour. Chelsea have sky-rocketed with him, and Leicester City threatened to implode without him.
Yet there was a time when adulation was hard to come by for Kante, when rejection was the order of the day. During his mid-teenage years, Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), Rennes, Lorient and the national Clairefontaine centre all took a look at him and turned away.
Only six years ago, Kante was toiling away in the ninth tier of French football, fearful that the sport might leave him behind.
Kante grew up on the outskirts of Paris after his parents left Mali at the beginning of the 1980s. The Kante home, a modest secondfloor apartment, is there where N’Golo grew up with his eight siblings.
For Kante, it has been a life touched by triumph and tragedy. Aged 11, he suffered the pain of losing his father, so his mother has been the major force in his life. Madame Kante would rarely be seen at the stadium in Suresnes. Kante came along by himself for his first training session, where he was immediately promoted into an age group one year older.
Pierre Ville, the secretary of Jeunesse Sportive de Suresnes, said: “He was the blue-eyed boy, protected by everyone. His eldest sister sometimes brought him. He never answered back, he hardly ever got a yellow card and he was always available.
“The truth, however, is that we couldn’t get him into a professional club. Scouts were looking at the players beating four men and smashing it into the top corner, and his fantastic midfield work was often unnoticed.
“In his teenage years, he was almost half the size of his team-mates and there was a view in French football that you needed to be strong and powerful to survive.”
Ville is not exaggerating about Kante’s height. Still just 1.67m, in early photographs, he appeared almost impossibly small besides his more developed teenage friends.
“You cannot imagine the force of his determination,” Ville said. “He was desperate to get to the top. PSG wouldn’t look at him. No regional teams took a second glance at him. I was thinking, ‘How can’t they see this quality?’ It wasn’t a question of fear, though, for me. He had the quality and his time would come.
“Thanks to the influence of Barcelona and La Masia, perceptions are changing. We now prefer players who are bright, intelligent and there for their brain rather than their power.”
Kante is Chelsea’s running man, the fuel that has powered the title push. He has a passing accuracy of 89%, is second only to Southampton’s Oriol Romeu in the number of Premier League interceptions by a midfielder, and is behind only Everton’s Idrissa Gueye for the highest number of successful tackles. Although his height attracted doubters, his athleticism has always impressed.
Piotr Wojtyna, his coach at Suresnes, recalls Kante winning a 3km cross-country race at the age of 11, seeing off over 100 children.
His willingness to learn continued to impress. Wojtyna explains how Kante arrived at the club with a very weak left foot but within a couple of years, he could do more than 100 keepy-uppies on that side.
“He was a small, quiet boy,’ Ville said. “He was listening, and smart people listen before they talk. He doesn’t have a Ferrari, there’s never been the stupid mohawks, diamond earrings or any bling-bling. It doesn’t interest him.”
When Kante earned a move to Boulogne, he was placed into the reserves. Boulogne were in the third tier of French football, but Kante began to shine.
At Boulogne, Kante travelled to training in a push-along scooter. At Caen, he upgraded to a second-hand Renault Megane. Now, at Chelsea, he has a Mini Cooper.
At Leicester, the shrewd eye of head of recruitment Steve Walsh, now at Everton, identified Kante’s potential.
“When I first saw him I thought, “Is there two of him?’,” Walsh said. “He was everywhere.” He was essential to Leicester’s title charge and it may not be too much of a push to conclude that whichever side secured Kante last off-season, would have ended up as this season’s champions.
At the Football Writers’ dinner last week, Chelsea technical director Michael Emenalo joked that he has since sent flowers to Leicester.
Emenalo added: “It’s ridiculous to think N’Golo can improve. Can you remember N’Golo making a sliding tackle? He doesn’t, ever. He knows how to nick the ball and intercept intelligently. It’s not because he’s 10 feet tall or has muscles popping out – he understands what he needs to do and does it right.
“He is a special human being. If you came to Cobham and look at the players’ car park, you will see his tiny bit of car. He is still complaining about the extra £500 he spent on that car!”
The Kante appreciation club is growing. This time last year, Sir Alex Ferguson labelled Kante as the best player in the Premier League. One year on, there can surely be little doubt. – Daily Mail