“Don’t listen to fake news. Kanté is an Ittihad player now! tweeted Saudi club Al-Ittihad on Wednesday, June 21, confirming that they had recruited the French midfielder. The message was accompanied by a photo of the footballer wearing his yellow and black striped shirt, then a video of Benzema welcoming his new team-mate. “I’m happy to play with you again.” And of course, in the best team in Saudi Arabia. See you soon in Jeddah”, rejoiced the Ballon d’Or 2022, who signed a three-season contract with Al-Ittihad in June.
“I’m very excited to play with the Tigers, in front of the fans at Al-Jawhara [the jewel]”, the club’s stadium in Jeddah, Kanté said in the same video. “Welcome to our new Kanté tiger,” club president Anmar Al-Hailee tweeted.
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Kanté, 32, signed a three-year pre-contract with Al-Ittihad in early June. But the Saudi club had conditioned its final recruitment on medical examinations, the player having suffered multiple injuries this season. “The contract was finalized on Tuesday, June 20, after Kanté passed medical examinations at a specialized medical center in Dubai,” the Saudi outfit said on Twitter.
“Kante’s arrival at Al-Ittihad is considered one of the most prestigious and significant recruitments in the club’s history”, welcomed the club, wishing “success” to the Frenchman. The native of Rueil-Malmaison, near Paris, lived through the desert last season, away from the field for more than six months due to a hamstring injury, then to an adductor.
With 53 selections in the France team, Kanté remains a part of the Blues, even if he could not participate in the last World Cup in Qatar due to his health problems. He was also offered a new contract by Chelsea, which he joined in 2016 and where the 1.68m midfielder was omnipresent, notably with a recital in 2021 to offer the English club the League of Nations trophy. champions.
Loved and respected by all – teammates, fans and opponents – for his good nature and modesty, the French midfielder has earned a reputation as a generous and discreet player, whose qualities as a footballer are in perfect harmony with his personality outside lands.
It was at 19, when he signed in Boulogne-sur-Mer, that his career took off. DH, CFA2… Kanté quickly climbed the ladder, until joining the first team, in National (third division). A stint in Caen will follow (2013-2015) before flying to England and glory in Leicester, where he won the title in 2016, then Chelsea, and today Al-Ittihad.
N’Golo Kanté finds Karim Benzema, 35, there, welcomed with great fanfare in early June in Jeddah by tens of thousands of supporters of Al-Ittihad, after 14 seasons at Real Madrid. And this a few months after the thunderous arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo in this country which launched a major offensive on several football stars playing in Europe, including the Argentinian Lionel Messi who finally chose Inter Miami, in the United States.
The kingdom, criticized for human rights abuses, is determined to use football to improve its international image and has petrodollars galore to fulfill its ambitions. The transfers of world football stars testify to the scale of the sporting ambitions of the monarchy, which plans to apply to organize the 2030 World Cup and the Olympics.
Saudi Arabia will also host the 2027 Asian Men’s Football Cup, the 2034 Asian Games, and even the 2029 Asian Winter Games, the awarding of which, considered by some to be an ecological aberration, was greeted with amazement. by the sports world.
