KANTE. France midfielder N’Golo Kanté has been forced to withdraw from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar due to injury.
Big blow for the French football team! Just over a month from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, N’Golo Kanté is forced to forfeit, L’Equipe and RMC announced on Friday. The midfielder is the first to forfeit. The one who was revealed to the general public during the coronation of the Habs at the World Cup in Russia in 2018 will therefore not be able to be aligned by the coach to try to defend the title of the Blues. Earlier today, his manager at Chelsea warned that the 31-year-old needed to “see a specialist over the weekend”, adding that “this setback is not good news.” So she was confirmed.
Since the start of the season, N’Golo Kanté has had physical glitches. On August 14, during the second day of the Premier League against Tottenham, the Chelsea midfielder came out injured, at the end of the match, hit in the right thigh after an acceleration. Since then, he has not reappeared on the pitch. And it is a hamstring injury that will deprive him of Qatar.
For more than a month, the French international stayed away from training with his club, until his return on September 27. Always preserved by his coach who did not immediately line him up on a score sheet, the 2018 world champion suffered a relapse on October 10. “We have to wait to see the degree of seriousness and we will advise,” coach Graham Potter said at the time. If a recovery before the World Cup seemed ambitious, hopes were definitely gone.
Born in Paris on March 29, 1991, N’Golo Kanté discovered and practiced football from an early age. Even if the young player regularly outclasses his teammates, he does not however manage to integrate a training center which would allow him to follow a clear path. However, it is clear that the talent is already present in the young boy. However, he will have to wait for his last season in promotion of honor and his 10 goals scored to be spotted by US Boulogne, a Ligue 2 club with which he signed an amateur contract in 2010. It is therefore in CFA 2 with the B team that N’Golo Kanté began his career. Two years later, N’Golo Kanté joined the first team then back down to National 1 and established himself as an indisputable midfielder.
On the strength of this first experience, N’Golo Kanté joined the Stade Malherbe Caen team in 2013. The following year, the Norman club was promoted to Ligue 1. It was the first time that the midfielder officiated among the elite of French football. His performances and his athleticism were unanimously acclaimed, propelling him to the rank of a real revelation in the championship for the 2014-2015 season. From then on, the transfer rumors are rife.
Announced in turn at Olympique de Marseille, Olympique Lyonnais and West Ham, it was nevertheless with the English club Leicester City, then trained by Claudio Ranieri, that the midfielder signed a new contract for four years. His transfer is then estimated at 8 million euros. N’Golo Kanté’s bet to join the English club turns out to be a real stroke of genius. Against all odds, his team succeeded in defying all predictions and winning the English championship during the 2015-2016 season for the first time in its history. Throughout the season, commentators have constantly praised the man who everyone considered to be “the best signing in the Premier League”
With his title of champion of England in his pocket, N’Golo Kanté sails towards a new adventure by joining the London club of Chelsea in which he imposes himself as an indisputable holder. The player continues to improve, multiplying the matches and chaining the goals. He also discovers the international scene by playing in the Europa League and the Champions League. Thanks to his exceptional results, N’Golo Kanté is regularly called up by the coach of the France team, Didier Deschamps. It is therefore quite natural that he participates and wins the 2018 Football World Cup in Russia in the final against Croatia, within the big family of the Blues. If he participated well in the final, N’Golo Kanté could not stay on the field until the end of the match. The midfielder had to give way to Steven Nzonzi during the second half, indisposed by gastroenteritis.
With Leicester City, N’Golo Kanté won the English championship in 2016. He repeated this feat in 2017, but this time with Chelsea FC. Still in the colors of the London club, the midfielder won his first Europa League in 2019. With the France team, the footballer holds one of the most beautiful titles of his career: that of world champion by winning the Grail with the Blues in 2018! N’Golo Kanté has also won many individual distinctions: he was notably titled French player of the year 2017, best player of the year within Leicester City in 2016. He was also elected man of the match in the final of the Champions League in 2021.
N’Golo Kanté is one of the highest paid French football players today. According to estimates, the midfielder who officiates at Chelsea would benefit from a monthly salary of 730,000 euros (bonuses not included), which represents 8.8 million euros gross per year. His total fortune is estimated at more than 28 million euros. Added to this are the commercial contracts and/or partnerships with the various brands. N’Golo Kanté is said to be Chelsea’s highest-paid player in club history.
N’Golo Kanté grew up in Rueil-Malmaison, in the Hauts-de-Seine department, surrounded by his four brothers and four sisters. His parents are Malian immigrants. N’Golo Kanté also has dual nationality, French and Malian. In her childhood, her mother worked as a cleaner while her father was a garbage collector. When he was only 11 years old, N’Golo Kanté lost his father. A drama that will have a resounding impact on his life and his determination to succeed in supporting his family. Years later, N’Golo Kanté experiences a new family tragedy. Only a few weeks before the 2018 World Cup, the midfielder must indeed face the sudden and brutal death of one of his brothers, who died tragically of a heart attack. Very discreet about his love life, N’Golo Kanté would still be single.
