LITTLE GENIUS: THE MAKING OF KANTE
Impossibly small as a child, rejected by a host of clubs, no crazy hairstyle or flash car . . . how N’Golo Kante went from Division 9 to serial winner
overseas tours of Belgium, Holland and Poland. His brother Mamari and sister Fatou are on the books and showing signs of promise.
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 wanted to go to Marseille. Leicester? He didn’t know where Leicester was. We had to almost kidnap him.’ Once at Leicester’s training complex, Kante’s phone was switched off until he put pen to paper. 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 summer would have ended up as this season’s champions.
Observers of his training session with Chelsea in Minneapolis in July remember how players instantly recognised his quality and gravitated to their new signing.
Arsene Wenger has suggested that Chelsea’s financial clout eased Arsenal out of the running. Ryan Giggs has said that Kante would have been a priority for him, had the Welshman remained at Manchester United. Instead, Chelsea moved first and sealed the deal. 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 the best player in the Premier League. One year on, there can surely be little doubt.