How N'Golo Kanté drove Leicester from defensive midfield

French midfielder N’Golo Kanté was among Leicester City’s key players that season. The 25-year-old had appeared in 30 of the team’s 31 matches so far. He had scored only one goal, but scoring is not his job. He plays as a defensive midfielder, though he also likes to help organise the team’s attacks.

Kanté first made a big impression at Caen, where he won promotion to Ligue 1 in 2014. He went on to become a key part of the first team there, and Leicester City then paid €8m for the Frenchman.

The biggest strength of Kanté’s game is winning the ball back. No player had better numbers for regaining possession.

N’Golo Kanté had recently made his debut for the French national team, scoring his first goal for France in a 4-2 friendly win over Russia a couple of days earlier.

A closer look at his main strengths starts with his tackling, which is world class. The midfielder is also very good at playing through balls, and he is an excellent dribbler who can pick the ball up in his own half and carry it over a long distance. Perhaps his best quality of all is reading the game to intercept passes: he ranked first in the Premier League for interceptions.

Kanté’s only weakness is aerial duels, which is down to his height of 1.69 m. Even so, the Frenchman is a complete footballer and looked ready for the biggest stage.

The midfielder scored a very important goal for Leicester City against Watford in a 2-1 win that brought another three points. He had also provided three assists in the Premier League, evidence of his vision and passing ability, and had been named Man of the Match three times that season.

The 25-year-old was one of the reasons for Leicester City’s magnificent performance in the Premier League. Claudio Ranieri had assembled a genuinely good team of players who complemented each other.

Keeping those key players for the following season, however, was going to be very difficult for Leicester City’s owners. Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kanté in particular were expected to attract interest from many clubs.

In short, Kanté is a great footballer: hard-working, energetic and quick, able to intercept the ball and then drive forward with it. His name was clearly one to remember.

From Suresnes to Leicester

N’Golo Kanté was born on 29 March 1991 in Paris. He came through the youth set-up at JS Suresnes and joined Boulogne’s reserve team in 2010, making his professional debut in Ligue 2 on 18 May 2012 as a substitute in a home defeat to Monaco. He moved to Caen in 2013 and played every game of his first season there as the club finished third in Ligue 2 and won promotion. Leicester City signed him on 3 August 2015 on a four-year contract, for a reported fee of €8 million.

How the season ended

Leicester completed one of the most surprising title wins in English football history. The club, quoted at 5,000-1 to win the league before the season began, were confirmed as champions on 2 May 2016, when Chelsea came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Tottenham Hotspur at Stamford Bridge, leaving Leicester out of reach with two matches still to play. It was the first top-flight title in the club’s history. In April 2016 Kanté had been named in the PFA Team of the Year.

After Leicester

The fears about keeping the squad together proved partly justified. Kanté joined Chelsea on 16 July 2016 for a reported £32 million and won the Premier League again in 2016–17, a season in which he was named PFA Players’ Player of the Year, FWA Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Season.

He was part of the France squad that finished runners-up at Euro 2016 and two years later won the 2018 World Cup in Russia, playing in all seven of France’s matches. In 2021 he was named player of the match in the Champions League final, in which Chelsea beat Manchester City 1-0 in Porto. In July 2023 he moved to the Saudi club Al-Ittihad at the end of his Chelsea contract.