N'Golo Kante opens door to stunning return after Euro 2024 exploits

Tom Weber

• Updated: 24 Jun 2024 20:53 BST
• 3 min read

N'Golo Kante insists that he is not finished with European football just yet.

It seems strange to talk about a 33-year-old as a revelation, but that is exactly what Kante has been thus far at Euro 2024. A surprise inclusion in Didier Deschamps' squad given that he played the bygone season in the Saudi Pro League, the Frenchman has been nothing short of sensational.

The former Chelsea and Leicester midfielder has put in two man-of-the-match displays against Austria and the Netherlands so far and he has been key to the way France have played. Kante has looked a man reborn on the biggest stage of European football when many thought that he was finished.

His Al-Ittihad side are coming off a terrible season by their lofty standards, tumbling down to fifth in the standings after winning the Pro League in 2023 despite the arrivals of Kante, Fabinho and Karim Benzema.

The Jeddah giants' campaign was disrupted by coaching turmoil and the fact that star striker Benzema evidently didn't want to be there, but Kante's game, it seems, has not suffered.

Kante open to European return

Given his eye-catching exploits in Germany, questions have been asked about Kante's future and the usually media-shy midfielder provided an answer ahead of Les Bleus' third and final group game against Poland, insisting that the chapter of European football was not yet closed for him.

“No, I'm not finished yet [with European football]. In Saudi, [it's] a new kind of football, a new experience. But I’m enjoying my return. It’s great to be back with the French team and I’m touched by it. But that’s not a question I’m asking myself today.”

“You have to savour it, it’s great to be back in the shirt, with the fans, in the competition, and to be praised, but there’s still a long way to go.”