N'Golo Kante has left the Premier League : End of an Era

Chelsea's midfield maestro, N'Golo Kante has left the Premier League after his 8 years long run. He has signed a new contract of 4 years with Saudi club, Al Ittihad marking his exit from the English league.

Kante's incredible journey

Now that Kante has left the Premier League on a new long term deal of 4 years, where he would be making €25 million per year, with Al Ittihad we take a look at his journey from the very beginning of his career to how he became one of the most prolific central midfielders of our generation.

He has given his 100% for every team he played and in every match he appeared. His efforts reflected on the field and was rightfully awarded for it.

His early footballing days

The French made his senior professional debut in the year 2012 for Boulogne and and two years later he signed for Caen on free transfer and helped his team in finishing third in the league and achieving promotion to Ligue 1. He stayed with the club for one more year and then his life changed when Steve Walsh scouted Kante for Leicester.

Fairytale year at Leicester City

On 3rd August 2015, Kante signed a four year contract with Leicester City and marked his arrival in the Premier League. He made his debut against Sunderland just five days later. And on 7th November, he scored his first Premier League goal against Watford.

Kante was a key factor in Leicester City's fairytale win in the Premier League. The most impressive thing about Kante was his work rate. It was like he had two lungs. He never stopped running. He always made crucial interceptions in the middle of the field and was not afraid to tackle someone to win the ball back. He ended the 2016 season with a total of 175 tackles which was 31 more than any other player and made the highest number of interceptions, 157 which was 15 more than the player at the second place.  He was also named in the PFA Team Of The Year making his debut season a massive success in the Premier league.

His time at Chelsea

After his amazing time at Leicester and because of his unbelievable performances in the midfield, Chelsea offered to sign the player on a five year deal and was willing to pay £32 million for the player, which the player gracefully accepted. Arsenal was also interested in the player but backed out and bought Granit Xhaka instead.

At Chelsea he wore the no. 7 shirt and made his Premier League debut for Chelsea against West Ham United in their first match of the season on 15th August 2016. Despite picking a yellow card within the opening five minutes of the game, he helped Chelsea in winning the game .His first Chelsea goal was on 23rd October against Manchester United.

His first season at Chelsea was also a hit. He won a couple of man of the matches. Didn't really had a bad game. Always contributed to the winning cause of the team. Played almost every minute of that season for Chelsea. And because of these attributes he was again named in the PFA Team of the year for a second consecutive season. And was also named  PFA Players' Player of the year, FWA Footballer of the year and a well deserved Premier League Player of the season.

As Chelsea went on to win the league that year under Antonio Conte, Kante became the first player since Eric Cantona to win back to back the Premier Leagues with two different clubs. It was quite an achievement for someone who was playing in the second division of the French league just three years ago. He ended the season with a man of the match award in the FA Cup final win against Manchester United.

He became Chelsea's highest paid footballer in 2018. He won the Europa League that season against Arsenal. In 2018, he also became a World Champion for France and was instrumental in their World Cup triumph.

In 2021, he helped Chelsea in winning the Champions League trophy for the 2nd time in the history of the club. He became man of the match in both semi final and round of 16 matches against Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid respectively .Kante was named UEFA Men's midfielder of the year that season which was also well deserved.

End of an era

His time at Chelsea was an absolute success. With his humble and easy going attitude and a smile on his face he became one of the greatest Premier League midfielders of our generation. That's why when he signed a contract with Al Ittihad it marked the end of an era.

It was quite understandable for the fans to get upset when they heard N'Golo Kante has left the Premier League. He was one of the players who was liked by everyone, even the rival fans, players and managers liked him. So his exit is gonna leave a great void in Chelsea's midfield which they're desperately trying to fill.

Kante's Premier League stats

Kante has played for 18,429' minutes in the Premier League. In those minutes he has 227 appearances, in which he has 29 goal contributions for both Leicester City and Chelsea combined.