N'Golo Kante

Kanté wins PFA Player of the Year Award!

N'Golo Kanté has been named PFA Player of the Year. Kante won the award for his amazing performances for Chelsea this season. Kante is close to winning the Premier League title for the second consecutive season. The French midfielder is also close to winning the League and Cup double with Chelsea. On Saturday, Kante helped his team beat Spurs 4-2 in the FA Cup semi-final. Two goals from Willian and one each from Eden Hazard and Nemanja Matic gave The Blues victory and a place in the FA Cup Final. They will play Arsenal in the Final, who beat Manchester City 2-1, after extra-time, in the other semi-final. If Chelsea and N'Golo Kante play at the same level as they have for most of this season, the Gunners will have to play really well to beat them.

So proud for such a honour! So amazing. As I always said, it's a team work: thx to my teammates, @ChelseaFC members and all the fans. pic.twitter.com/4tQXf1ROXH

— N'Golo Kanté (@nglkante) April 23, 2017

Who was N'Golo Kanté up against?

N'Golo Kanté was up against some strong competition for this year's PFA Player of the Year award. In total, there were six nominees. The other nominees were N'Golo's Chelsea teammate Eden Hazard, Manchester Utd's Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Everton's Romelu Lukaku, Arsenal's Alexis Sanchez and Tottenham's Harry Kane. The PFA award is very important for players because it is voted for by other football players. Each player at the 92 professional clubs that comprise the four divisions of football in England and Wales plus the 8 clubs in the Women's Super League gets one vote each. The only rule is that they can't vote for a player at their own club. There are also PFA awards for the Young Player of the Year and the Women's Player of the Year. These awards were won by Tottenham's Dele Alli and Manchester City's Lucy Bronze. 

He's the one you can't replace. If Eden Hazard wasn't there you could put Willian in. He's the best midfielder in the Premier League, if not Europe.

Danny Murphy, a football pundit for the BBC.

What do we know about N'Golo Kante?

N'Golo Kante was born in March 1991, in Paris, the capital of France. Kanté's parents were both born in Mali. He started his football development with J.S Surenses, which is a small sports club in the Paris region. He had lots of problems finding a professional club because he was very small and no club wanted to take a risk on him. Eventually, he signed for his first professional club - Boulogne, who were playing in the French second division. His debut wasn't a totally happy one, it was on the final day of the 2011/12 season, when Boulogne were already relegated to the third division. The following season, Kanté became a regular in Boulogne's first-team and a transfer to Caen followed in the summer of 2013. Kanté and Caen were promoted to the first division in 2013/14 season and Kanté became an important part of the midfield for the Ligue 1 team. In the summer of 2015, Kanté made the short trip from France to England.

What has Kante won in the Premier League?

In the summer of 2015, Leicester City paid Caen £5.6 million to bring the midfielder to the Premier League. This could be the best bit of business a Premier League club has ever done. Kante was simply brilliant as Leicester City shocked the football world by winning the Premier League title. Along with Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy, Kanté helped change Leicester from a team fighting against relegation to a team fighting for the title. He made more interceptions than any Premier League player (156) and gave Leicester real bite in midfield. Kante was named in the PFA team of the season for 2015/16. Following his success at Leicester, Kante decided to make a move to Chelsea and it looks like the move was the right one with Chelsea close to winning the Premier League again and Kante being named PFA Player of the Year.

How does it feel to be the PFA Player of the Year?

Watch the video with N'Golo Kante and practise your listening skills. What questions does the interviewer ask and what are N'Golo Kante's answers? Write your answers in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

How does it feel to win the PFA Players' Player of the Year award, N'Golo? #PFAawards pic.twitter.com/lDngXOEQfu

— PFA (@PFA) April 23, 2017

 

What do you think?

N'Golo Kante has been named the PFA Player of the Year. Do you agree with the PFA's choice? Would you have chosen a different player?

Listen to the video with N'Golo Kante. What questions is he asked? What are his answers?

What question would you like to ask N'Golo Kante or another Premier League player?