N’Golo Kanté new owner of a football club in Belgium
N’Golo Kanté during a Premier League match between Chelsea and Newcastle on March 13, 2022. KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / AP On June 21, when leaving Chelsea to sign for the Al-Ittihad…
N’Golo Kanté new owner of a football club in Belgium
N’Golo Kanté during a Premier League match between Chelsea and Newcastle on March 13, 2022. KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH / AP
On June 21, when leaving Chelsea to sign for the Al-Ittihad club in Saudi Arabia, N’Golo Kanté announced the opening of a “new chapter of [sa] 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 1er July and “a new board of directors will be put in place in the coming days”is it written in a press release published by the Belgian club and entitled: “Together, always higher”.
At 32, the French midfielder will therefore become the manager of a football club, led by “the desire to continue the structuring of the club in order to consolidate its foundations, stabilize the staff and eventually reconnect with the tradition of training RE Virton, [par l’intermédiaire de] his youth academy », clarifies the text. 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 beginning 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 winner of the 2021 Champions League is very far from his best level. The France team, whose jersey he has not worn for over a year, has never seemed so far away 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. The midfielder therefore continues to believe in it, even if the choice to play in Saudi Arabia l away from the very top level and if the takeover of the Royal Excelsior Virton gives an even more unexpected turn to his career.
