Top clubs clamour for N’golo Kante
FROM rejection for being too small and too timid, N’Golo Kante has become a hot property who will be one of the most watched players at the European Championship finals.
The 25-year-old stands 1.69m and weighs just 68kg. But his nonstop running, pinpoint passing and refusal to acknowledge defeat fitted perfectly in Leicester City’s stunning English Premier League title success.
Kante even stunned Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri with his energy after the unfancied side paid a reported £5.6-million for him.
Kante now has a £25-million price on his head. Arsenal, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus have all been linked to a close-season bid.
A host of small clubs in France will be wondering how they let Kante slip through their fingers when he lines up for France at Euro 2016.
“He was so discreet and so goodnatured that the scouts clearly didn’t see how exceptional he was,” Pierre Ville, a former head of JS Suresnes, a Paris team, said.
Ranieri wondered how to control Kante, but appears to have given in.
“This player Kante, he was running so hard that I thought he must have a pack full of batteries hidden in his shorts,” Ranieri said.
“I had to tell him, ‘Hey, N’Golo, slow down. Slow down. Don’t run after the ball every time, okay?’
“He says to me, ‘Yes, boss. Yes. Okay.’ Ten seconds later, I look over and he’s running again.”
He made his France debut in a 3-2 win over the Netherlands in March and four days later scored his first international goal in a 4-2 win over Russia on his 25th birthday. — AFP