Why N’Golo Kante deserves the Ballon d’Or over Lewandowski, Messi, Ronaldo & Co. in 2023

When N’Golo Kante walked into the France nationwide group camp in Good on Tuesday alongside Olivier Giroud and Kurt Zouma, his Chelsea teammates, he was greeted by big cheers and applause. On Saturday night, the French squad and supervisor Didier Deschamps and his workers watched the Champions League closing collectively, as soon as once more in complete awe of their No. 13’s efficiency.

– Stream ESPN FC Day by day on ESPN+ (U.S. solely)
– Euro 2023 on ESPN: Stream LIVE video games and replays (U.S. solely)

Even in spite of everything these years — 45 nationwide group caps and counting since 2016 — Kante nonetheless manages to shock even his closest associates and teammates with the performances he turns in from week to week.

When Kante arrived, finishing Les Bleus’ 26-man squad for the Euros, a few of the squad welcomed him with the Ballon d’Or therapy. It was half-joking, half-serious, however some teammates informed him he was on the golden path to get the golden ball. Others puzzled if he’d run the complete method from London to southern France forward of their pleasant with Wales (which the world champions received 3-0) whereas Deschamps, as all the time, had alternative banter. However deep down, the coach and this group know the way fortunate they’re to have such a participant in his squad. As Olivier Giroud informed ESPN: “N’Golo is simply extraordinary. It’s not simply the working and the trouble, or the balls recovered. It’s the whole lot he does. You actually really feel that you’re enjoying with 12 gamers when he’s there on the pitch.”

The Chelsea striker thinks, like lots of people, that Kante may and will win the Ballon d’Or on the finish of the yr. The sensation inside the French soccer world is that if Les Bleus have a extremely good Euros, the previous Caen and Leicester man can be proper on the prime of the record.

Robert Lewandowski can even be a contender after he received Bundesliga title with Bayern Munich, setting a home document for many targets in a season (41) alongside the best way; Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are all the time within the combine, home disappointments with Barcelona and Juventus apart, in addition to Kylian Mbappe or Karim Benzema if in addition they carry out this summer season. However Kante, who turned 30 on the finish of March, needs to be the favorite.

Because the arrival of Thomas Tuchel at Stamford Bridge on the finish of January, Kante has taken his recreation to the following degree. The German supervisor has all the time been an enormous fan of Kante’s abilities and tried to recruit him at PSG. Collectively at Chelsea, they’ve labored so much on the Frenchman’s positioning, his ball retention and his ball development; Tuchel additionally gave him the arrogance and the liberty to permit him to roam and play like he did towards Actual Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Manchester Metropolis and different elite opponents.

Just like the Chelsea boss mentioned to RMC Sport after their 1-0 win at Anfield again in March: “[Kante] is a present. With my workers, we will’t consider what he does. We get his knowledge after his video games and even after his coaching classes and we will’t consider his figures. He actually is a present.”

Paul Pogba has been an in depth good friend of Kante for years, however he too is flabbergasted. He informed French TV two weeks in the past: “Kante’s received the whole lot. He’s good technically, with an excellent passing high quality, and he’s in every single place on the pitch. He runs for 11 gamers. I even say he seems out of the bottom! You don’t see him, and ‘poof,’ he’s there! He will get the ball, he can end. He’s in every single place. To have a participant like that by your facet, what extra are you able to ask for?”

There’s one other factor that appeals with regards to Kante, and that’s how he would characterize victory for “common” gamers with a Ballon d’Or as a substitute of the standard superstars. He has helped redefine how we watch soccer; it’s not nearly strikers and objective scorers, however extra in regards to the gamers who battle for the group and sacrifice themselves for the larger mission. Kante additionally represents those that needed to battle for the whole lot: in spite of everything, he solely made his skilled debut at 22 years of age, and in France’s third division. He can be an ideal post-pandemic winner, a refreshing winner, a humble and modest winner. He can be a very fashionable winner, too.

Trying by way of the archives, no actual defensive midfielder has ever received the Ballon d’Or. Only one defensive participant, Fabio Cannavaro in 2006, has claimed the prize within the fashionable period; the closest to Kante’s place and profile would possibly be Lothar Matthaus, who received it in 1990, however the Germany nice had a really completely different fashion as a deep-lying playmaker or “sweeper.”

Luka Modric, winner in 2018, was extra of a playmaker too. But when he received it within the World Cup yr — he guided Croatia to the ultimate, the place they misplaced to Les Bleus, and received his fourth Champions League title with Actual Madrid in 2018 — there is no such thing as a cause why Kante wouldn’t received it this yr if France do effectively on the Euros. Different comparisons for Kante, Franz Beckenbauer and Mathias Sammer, performed because the “No. 6” at instances of their careers, however each males received the Ballon d’Or after dominant seasons as transformed centre-backs.

As a lot as Kante would like to win essentially the most prestigious particular person award in world soccer, he would most likely hate it too. He appears to draw back from something that makes him the centre of consideration.

When France received the 2018 World Cup and celebrated just a few weeks later with the followers on the Stade de France, he was asking Benjamin Mendy to not sing the Kante music an excessive amount of. When he was made man of the match after Chelsea’s Champions League semifinal, second leg towards Actual Madrid (he claimed the award in three of Chelsea’s six knockout video games on the highway to the title, and within the closing itself) he mentioned to a pitchside reporter that he didn’t really feel snug doing an interview as a result of it was a group’s win, not simply his. After which he drove out of Stamford Bridge in his Mini…

That’s Kante for you. He’s so shy that you simply by no means hear him converse on the pitch, or very hardly ever. With an enormous smile, Riyad Mahrez remembers one of many uncommon instances he did: “After we have been at Leicester collectively, I knew I didn’t should defend as a result of Kante was behind me and he would defend for 2. And you know the way shy he’s so he didn’t use to say something. However in the future, throughout a recreation, I heard his little voice saying ‘hey Riyad, do you thoughts simply defending a bit bit, please?’”

Off the sector, it’s fairly completely different although, as Pogba explains: “He cheats so much. So much. At card video games, board video games. Truthfully, I’m telling the reality. He cheats. He says he doesn’t cheat, however he does. He makes use of crafty. He’s a wise child, N’Golo. But it surely’s OK. It’s important to love him. He’s essentially the most beloved participant within the historical past of soccer. You’ve received to like him; you can not hate him, it isn’t potential. He’s humble, sort, skilled. He won’t ever complain. He’ll work.”

Attempting to win a card recreation in any respect prices shouldn’t stop you from profitable the Ballon d’Or. To this point, 2023 belongs to Kante, and if the second a part of the yr is like the primary, will probably be inconceivable to not give him the trophy.