An incredible journey. Unique. While he started his senior career in Excellence (10th division) at JS Suresnes (Hauts-de-Seine), Chelsea defensive midfielder N’Golo Kanté will honor his 46th selection for the France team on Tuesday. to Bulgaria. Become a key player, the child of Rueil, from a modest family, started from below before climbing the stages, one after the other, to arrive on the roof of the world during the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Coach Didier Deschamps even indicated last week that he deserves to win the Golden Ball. Just that.
“Sometimes he was too altruistic” (JS Suresnes)
Its extraordinary trajectory starts in the Hauts-de-Seine. Originally from the Geraniums district in Rueil-Malmaison, N’Golo signed his first license at JS Suresnes, whose stadium is located a hundred meters from his building. Only 16 years old, he is called by Tomasz Bzymek, the coach of the pennant team, to evolve in Excellence, at the departmental level.
“He was above the rest. We saw in him a very big potential. In agreement with the manager in the youth, he was offered three training sessions with the seniors and two more with the juniors during the week, plus the senior match on Sunday, says the suresnois coach. N’Golo gave his all at each session. After two games, he became an indisputable holder. To protect him from opposing players, often strong in the axis, I made him play on the right side. He already had the biggest VMA (Editor’s note: maximum aerobic speed) and you could also take advantage of its speed. “
Faced with more seasoned opponents, the right midfielder panicked the defenses and scored 15 goals in 2010 during his 3rd year in PH (9th division) at the regional level. “I asked him to take more responsibility. Sometimes he was too selfless in refusing to complete actions, Bzymek recalls. N’Golo has progressed everywhere while gaining in maturity. He was more enterprising and allowed himself to run over and score goals. He even shot the set pieces. “
“It’s happiness for a coach” (Boulogne-sur-Mer)
Boulogne-sur-Mer, then in Ligue 2, smelled the good deal and made him sign an amateur contract. After two seasons with the reserve (CFA 2, 5th division), he joined the pennant team then in National. Every day he went to practice on his… scooter.
“It is happiness for a coach to be able to count on such a player. He never complained and was always attentive, supports his former coach Georges Tournay. When I arrived in Boulogne, he was playing in reserve and had just obtained his BTS. After four full matches in the National, I wanted to blow him away and he answered me: No, coach everything is fine. And he went on to play without losing power. “
In 2013, N’Golo was voted best National player. “With us, he already had a big volume but he progressed in the game forward and the long game, specifies Tournay. He was always there against the big teams. In front of Toulouse (then in L1) in the Coupe de France, He had been huge for an hour. Snubbed by training centers during his youth, the pocket medium found himself courted by many professional clubs.
“We only saw him on the lawn” (Stade Malherbe de Caen)
N’Golo joined in June 2013 for a period of three years with Caen. He then asserted himself as one of the main architects of the Norman club’s rise to Ligue 1 in 2014, then of its retention in the elite the following year. “As much N’Golo was discreet and shy outside, we could only see him on the lawn, said Jean Calvé, the former right-back from Caen. He was a ubiquitous player in recovery. He impressed us with his rapid adaptation to L2 and then to L1. With us, he progressed technically and tactically. On defensive replacements, he knew how to get on the right path to intercept at the right time and stop counterattacks. “
“He cleans everything in the middle of the field” (Leicester City)
In 2015, Kanté left France for the Premier League by engaging with Leicester City, which had just escaped in extremis. A year later, he won with the Midlands club the title of champion of England to everyone’s surprise! “He’s a very kind and curious man,” recalls his former teammate Yohan Benalouane. With N’Golo, it’s very simple: when you’re a central defender like me, you don’t have to do anything (to laugh). He cleans everything in the middle of the field, to the left, to the right and to the sides. It ensures the transition between defense and attack. It is a driving force for a team. “
Like Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, Kanté is one of the great architects of Leicester’s incredible season. “He has progressed in terms of language, an essential element in order to communicate well with his teammates and especially in terms of his game intelligence,” Benalouane indicates. He runs a lot, but to intercept balloons you have to be smart. N’Golo sees everything before everyone else. “
“Looks like he has three lungs” (Chelsea)
His slaughter and his regularity seduced the biggest English clubs including Chelsea who signed him against a transfer fee of 38 million euros in 2016. After three big seasons with the Blues, the world champion suffered several injuries during the two last years. But he remains one of Thomas Tuchel’s basic men. The defensive midfielder was the Blues’ best player in the Champions League semi-finals back and forth against Real Madrid and then in the final against Manchester City.
“N’Golo Kanté is a really special person. In my entire career, I have never met someone like him, insists Chelsea captain César Azpilicueta. So humble off the grass, he is very discreet but, on a field, he has such a volume of play. He can recover balls with a lot of energy when all of us around are at the end of their tether. Looks like he has three lungs. It is a pleasure to share the locker room with him. At 30, Kanté is at the height of an exceptional career. After winning the Champions League, all he needs is a European title with the selection to have won all the trophies possible on the planet of football. It would be amazing.
