Gueye’s eyeing pal Kante’s flight plan to Prem success

IDRISSA GUEYE came to England on the same flight as N’Golo Kante – and now the Everton midfielder reckons his career will take off.

It was in the summer of 2015 that Gueye (above) and Kante each travelled from Paris, with the Senegalese international on his way to Aston Villa from Lille and the Frenchman heading to Leicester from Caen.

It was Kante who got the better deal, helping Leicester win the title before a £32million move to Chelsea where he was able to repeat the feat in a season which saw him named PFA and FWA Footballer of the Year.

Gueye was relegated at Villa – but enhanced his reputation such that Ronaldo Koeman took him to Goodison for £7.2m last summer.

Now he intends to stay on an upward curve.

Gueye said: “I’m quite satisfied with my first year at Everton as we’ve achieved our first objective, which was to qualify for Europe.

“We set out to finish maybe fifth – and we fought for as long as we could to get there.

“We’re going to finish seventh, so we’re not so far away, but what we’ve got to do is make sure we keep progressing and keep growing as a squad and club to set out that ideal of hitting the top four.”

Gueye admitted Everton are “smarting” about finishing another campaign below rivals Liverpool. But Koeman’s men can do the Reds a huge favour by denying Arsenal the chance to mount a last-day bid for a Champions League slot.

Gueye said: “It stings me a bit – it smarts and hurts. You always want to be higher than your local rivals and we realise we’re behind them.

“It’s kind of like a separate battle outside of the league and we know it’s important to everyone, ourselves and the fans.

“So we want to do our best to reverse that situation next season.”

But it is his friend Kante that Gueye really has his sights on.

He said: “We met up at the airport quite by chance when we both flew to Birmingham and we got chatting.

“He’s a really nice guy and he has shown us all what can be achieved in the Premier League.”