N’Golo Kante was born on March 29, 1991 Paris, France by relatively unknown parents known as Late Mr and Mrs Kante. His parents were migrants who migrated to France from Mali (West Africa) in 1980 to seek greener pasture in Europe. Due to their resilience nature, they thrived in doing the most complicated job that came their way. N’Golo Kante was their first child.
Kante grew up in a small flat in Rueil Malmaison, a small and densely populated sub-urban area close to Paris. This was an area known to have the best of people doing menial jobs for the big city.
Ideally, Kante worked as a trash picker during his childhood. As a trash picker & grabber, he would walk for kilometers around the Suburbs of eastern Paris looking for all sort of valuable waste to collect and deliver to small recycling firms for quick cash. Even while he juggle through this, Kante remained a lad with a troubled personal life before fame.
He knew his job will continually make his family circle in poverty. Kante had the ultimate dream. A dream for any prestigious role or responsibility that would pave way for a poverty free life for his family.
After the France 98 world cup, Kante saw a different France. A France of opportunities. He saw a country whose football glory came mostly from migrants. Back then as a 7 years old boy who got use to menial jobs around Paris suburbs, Kante was already use to seeing and hearing big names of the FIFA 1998 world cup.
The likes of Thierry Henry, Zinedine Zidane, Patrick Viera , Lilian Thuram, and Nicolas Anelka were known to be household names to migrants who grazed the tournament. Their world cup victory brought about a turning point in terms of Migrant’s participation in French football.
Kante made more monies picking trashes dropped by the public. He covered every ground used by the tournament in Paris. His parents, having seeing their son progressed so much, assisted him financially to start his future plans.
Although Kante never watched a football match, but aspired to take football as a career having noticed lots of youth clubs popping up close to his home.
At age 8, Kante made the biggest decision of his life. The quest to start playing football from grassroot. He began his career at JS Suresnes in the western suburbs of Paris. Upon registration, Kante was immediately tagged by team mates as the smallest and most focused young star in the club. His small stature appearance kept many of his team mates wondering if he could last 90 minute on the pitch.
Ideally, it was Kante’s humility and hard work learned in his troubled youth that helped the miniature midfielder achieve greatness.
His team started winning trophies as soon as he entered the club. Kante would led his team winning trophies but wouldn't celebrate because it meant nothing to him. He doesn’t allow celebration go to his head. As seen in the picture below, he distances himself from a trophy celebration which came to the team because he was their main man.
Kanté made his senior professional debut with Boulogne in 2012, appearing as a substitute in one Ligue 2 match, and played an entire season in the third division the following year. After that he joined Ligue 2 side Caen on a free transfer, finished third and won promotion to Ligue 1. He stayed with the club for one more year.
In 2015, Kanté joined Leicester City for a fee worth £5.6 million and was integral to their maiden Premier League victory. The following year, he joined Chelsea for a fee worth £32 million and again won the league, making him the first outfield player to win consecutive English league titles with different clubs since Eric Cantona in 1992 and 1993.[6] He has also won the PFA Players' Player of the Year and FWA Footballer of the Year, an FA Cup, the UEFA Europa League, and the UEFA Champions League.
Kanté cites Lassana Diarra and Makélélé as inspirations but insists he has his own style and approach towards the game, one which is unconventional and described as "false four". His World Cup winning midfield partner, Paul Pogba, said he could outrun an entire team of 11 players.
His league-title winning manager, Claudio Ranieri, often joked about him having "batteries" and said: "One day, I'm going to see you cross the ball and then finish the cross with a header yourself."Thomas Tuchel with whom Kante won the 2021 Champions League said, "If you play with N'Golo you have half a man more; this is unique. It is a pleasure to be his coach, he is a big gift for me, a guy so, so humble and who is such a big helper on the pitch."Off the pitch, Kanté's former Chelsea manager, Antonio Conte, praised his work ethic and constant willingness to improve.
Kanté has said he doesn't necessarily enjoy his role but the "satisfaction in recovering a ball, in protecting my team from an opponent’s attack," is what keeps him going.
A popular Internet meme that 70% of the planet is covered by water and the rest by the Kanté twins exemplifies his standing among the fans and their recognition of his work ethic and reading of the game.
1 Comments
KANTE THE MOST HUMBLE AND THE MOST SERIOUS PLAYER EVER 👏
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