N'Golo used to pick up garbage. He was 6 or 7 years old looking for cardboard, tin, glass. Any object that could sell or recycle. Nobody should have to do such a thing to live at that age. Paris is a cosmopolitan and inclusive city, but it can also be inhospitable. In addition, he had lost his father very early.
In the scrap, N'Golo Kanté found the means to subsist and help his mother, walking neighbourhoods and garbage dumps, competing with others who did the same.
One day he found a ball among the debris, a little torn and without air, but it was for him like discovering a treasure. He adopted it as his own, and since then he accompanied him on his long journeys, ball at the foot. Although I could not know, in reality that finding was, also, to find a future.
He carried the ball through the streets and played soccer after the day's. Tireless. That's where the technique came from, because the endurance of his life, translate to the pitch. As he is small in stature according to the standards of modern football, he was rejected from many sides. He tried without success in the Rennes, the Sochaux, the Lorient. The viewers did not see beyond their 1.69. They would regret later.
He started as an amateur in the Suresnes of the 8th division of France. From there he jumped into Boulogne, further north, away from his family. At the trainings, He went on a scooter and lived just with the necessary. Sometimes he ran out of food but never complained. The need forges character.
Then came to the Caen of the 2nd division. The midfield was his. Recovered balls like nobody and distributed in silence. If he made goals, he celebrated discreetly. He ascended right away and they looked for him from Lyon, even from Madrid, although in the end Florentino and his entourage discarded him.
Eight million euros was paid by Leicester for his services at the request of Ranieri, a team that was only looking to save the category. At the end of the tournament, however, they lift the Premier League the most difficult league among all, the first championship in the history of the club. N'Golo Kanté saw his smile reflected in the metal.
After that Chelsea put 30 million Pounds on the table and Kante was champion again. Today a lot of teams are looking for his services> PSG, Barça and Real Madrid again. Chelsea has priced N'golo letter up to 110 million euros.
A month ago he played the World Cup Final with France. He still remembers that before the Kingpower Stadium, the Stamford Bridge, the Stade de France and the Olympic de Luzhniki, in the Parisian neighborhoods, he used to pick up garbage, he was cold in the streets, He passes hunger. So a Wolrd Cup final wasn't a big deal for him, after all, he already won the most important battle.
That's why N'Golo Kante is My favourite athlete, Not only because the things that he makes in the pitch, but also for all that things that he went through to become a legend.
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