N'Golo Kante won pretty much everything in European football. Now he's trying his luck in the lucrative Saudi league, where he'll have another France superstar for company.
Kante completed his widely expected move to Saudi champion Al Ittihad on a three-year deal on Wednesday after six years at Chelsea, with his new club opening its doors to the 32-year-old midfielder with a series of tweets containing the hashtag “WelcomeBox2Box” — referring to his hard-running style of play.
One of Kante's biggest fans is already at Al Ittihad — Karim Benzema — the reigning world player of the year and a former teammate with France's national team. He moved there this month.
“One time I told you you are the best player box-to-box in the world,” said Benzema, in a video he sent apparently while sitting in a private plane. “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 — sent a reply.
“Thank you Karim — nice to see you again,” he said. “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.”
Kante will reportedly earn more than $100m across the length of the deal at a team coached by former Tottenham and Wolverhampton manager Nuno Espirito Santo.
It recently won the Saudi league ahead of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr.
Kante, who won the World Cup with France in 2018, the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 and has been one of the best players in the Premier League in recent years as a back-to-back champion with Leicester (2016) and Chelsea (2017), has struggled with injuries over the past two seasons.
That hasn't put off Al Ittihad from apparently spending big on Kante, a few 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 said.
The big names — albeit players nearing the end of their careers — are being enticed to the Saudi league, where spending is being fueled by a move by the kingdom's sovereign wealth Public Investment Fund to take a majority ownership stake in four of the country's top clubs, including Al Ittihad and Al Nassr.
The move is part of a nationalisation project that encourages public sector organisations to invest in sports, with football teams a priority under the initiative backed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Another of those four teams, Al Hilal, tried to buy Lionel Messi but Argentina's World Cup winner decided to join Inter Miami in the US.
A slew of leading players are being linked with moves to Saudi Arabia in this European offseason, including Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez, Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy and Wolverhampton midfielder Ruben Neves.
