N’Golo Kante gained just about all the things in European soccer. Now he is making an attempt his luck within the profitable Saudi league, the place he’ll have one other France famous person for firm.
Kante accomplished his extensively anticipated transfer to Saudi champion Al-Ittihad on a three-year deal Wednesday after six years at Chelsea, together with his new membership opening its doorways to the 32-year-old midfielder with a sequence of tweets containing the hashtag “WelcomeBox2Box” — referring to his hard-running model of play.
One of Kante’s largest followers is already at Al-Ittihad — Karim Benzema, the reigning world participant of the 12 months and a former teammate with France’s nationwide crew. He moved there this month.
“One time I told you you are the best player box-to-box in the world,” mentioned Benzema, in a video he despatched apparently whereas sitting in a non-public airplane. “Now I’m happy to play with you again. And of course, at the best team in Saudi. See you in Jeddah.” Kante — all smiles, as ever — despatched a reply.
“Thank you Karim — nice to see you again,” he mentioned. “Thank you for your words. I am very pleased to play with you, with the best player in the world. And I’m very excited to play with the Tigers.”
Set to earn $100 million
Kante will reportedly earn greater than $100 million throughout the size of the deal at a crew coached by former Tottenham and Wolverhampton supervisor Nuno Espirito Santo. It not too long ago gained the Saudi league forward of Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr.
Kante, who gained the World Cup with France in 2018, the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and has been among the best gamers within the Premier League in recent times as a back-to-back champion with Leicester (2016) and Chelsea (2017), has struggled with accidents over the previous two seasons.
That hasn’t delay Al-Ittihad from apparently spending huge on Kante, a couple of weeks after bringing in Benzema following the expiry of his contract at Real Madrid.
“It is part of the club’s efforts to establish itself as a top choice for world-class players in the Saudi Professional League,” Al-Ittihad mentioned.
Big names
The huge names — albeit gamers nearing the tip of their careers — are being enticed to the Saudi league, the place spending is being fueled by a transfer by the dominion’s sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund to take a majority possession stake in 4 of the nation’s prime golf equipment, together with Al-Ittihad and Al-Nassr. The transfer is a part of a nationalisation challenge that encourages public sector organizations to spend money on sports activities, with soccer groups a precedence below the initiative backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Another of these 4 groups, Al-Hilal, tried to purchase Lionel Messi however Argentina’s World Cup winner determined to affix Inter Miami within the United States.
A slew of main gamers are being linked with strikes to Saudi Arabia on this European offseason, together with Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Wolverhampton midfielder Ruben Neves.
Another was Tottenham winger Son Heung-min, who was reportedly a goal of Al-Ittihad however shouldn’t be prepared to maneuver to Saudi Arabia.
“Money is not the most important thing to me right now,” Son advised reporters on Tuesday after South Korea drew 1-1 with El Salvador in a global pleasant in Daejeon.
“I am not ready to go to that league,” he mentioned when requested about reviews of a profitable try and lure him. “I really like the Premier League and have more things to do in the league. So I will return and get prepared.”