While some in Saudi Arabia were claiming that N’Golo Kanté’s transfer from Chelsea to Al-Ittihad was done, reports in France were very adamant that wasn’t the case.
L’Equipe on Tuesday, however, bring an update on the situation, and it isn’t what Blues fans wanting the Frenchman to stick around will have wanted to hear.
The newspaper explain the Chelsea star is ‘getting closer’ to Al-Ittihad and could ‘quickly sign’ with the Saudi side.
While that would mean a lot of money for him, it could mean a big professional and personal sacrifice down his end, as it would leave his France national team spot ‘very uncertain’.
Already out of the equation for the time being after a season plagued with injuries, the 32-year-old, with 53 caps under his belt, may have already represented his country for the last time.
Kanté is getting closer to Saudi Arabia ‘by the day’ to join Karim Benzema, with the negotiations having ‘advanced in the last few hours’.
As L’Equipe state, a move to Saudi Arabia ‘wasn’t a priority at first’, but Kanté has had time to think about it, and while some are claiming he would be on €60-100m per year, the French outlet put his future wage at more around €20m/year.
The big question is how will this impact his international career?
Didier Deschamps has stated that he will keep following the players once they move over there, and he knows at a 100% fit Kanté is a great tool to have, but with Eduardo Camavinga emerging alongside Aurélien Tchouaméni and many other young midfielders, it means that the Chelsea midfielder ‘would need to come back to a very high level to be called back’.
Is this, therefore, the end of the Blues star in a France shirt? His country’s major newspaper seem to think so.
