On June 21, when leaving Chelsea to sign for Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia, N’Golo Kanté announced the opening of a “new chapter in [his] career”. For the midfielder of the France team (53 caps), this new chapter will be written on the pitch but also behind the scenes of a third division Belgian football club, the Royal Excelsior Virton.

Kanté officially bought the club on Thursday June 29 from Flavio Becca, a Luxembourg businessman, who had owned it since 2018. The transfer between the two men will take effect on Saturday July 1 and “a new board of directors will be set up in the coming days,” reads a statement issued by the Belgian club and titled: “Together, always higher”.

At 32, the French midfielder will therefore become the manager of a football club, driven by “the desire to continue the structuring of the club with a view to consolidating its foundations, stabilizing the staff and eventually reconnecting with the tradition of RE training. Virton, [through] his youth academy,” the text reads. Kanté’s first mission will be to bring this club, which was relegated at the end of the 2022-2023 season, up to the second division.

He still believes in the Blues

The French midfielder will have to take care of the management of the club – or entrust it to others – in parallel with his playing career, which will therefore continue in Saudi Arabia. Like other big names on the continent, Kanté has agreed to join the Middle Eastern country, which has launched since the start of the transfer market a vast offensive to recruit players likely to promote its championship and its football with a view to a bid to host the 2030 World Cup.

To do this, Kanté will have to… play, he who has only played nine games this season in all competitions. Held back by injuries for several seasons, the 2021 Champions League winner is far from his best. The France team, whose jersey he has not worn for more than a year, has never seemed so far for him.

“See you soon on the pitch for new adventures with Al-Ittihad and the Blues,” he wrote in his farewell message to supporters of Chelsea, the club where he played between 2016 and 2023. therefore continues to believe in it, even if the choice to go and play in Saudi Arabia takes him away from the very high level and if the takeover of Royal Excelsior Virton gives an even more unexpected turn to his career.