In a major blow to France and anybody who enjoys good vibes, N’Golo Kanté looks like he’s going to miss the World Cup.
The do-everything midfielder has suffered a setback to his troublesome hamstring injury, with ESPN and L’Equipe among the outlets reporting that he’s out three months, ending his World Cup hopes.
“It’s a setback so it’s not good news but, anything other than that at this stage, I can’t give you anything more,” Chelsea manager Graham Potter said on Friday. “Historically there are things which have happened which is a concern, so we need to get to the bottom of that.”
Kanté was the lynchpin of France’s World Cup triumph in 2018, and his absence for his country’s title defense is a bitter blow — especially with another key midfielder, Paul Pogba, a major doubt for the tournament as well.
There is no player in the world like Kanté, both for his ability to seemingly be everywhere on the field and his ability to retain the humility of a lower-league player despite being one of the best in the world.
Perhaps that comes from Kanté’s upbringing as a lower-league player. He was signed by Leicester from Ligue 2 side Caen in a move that drew little fanfare (he didn’t even get his own BBC article when he was signed!).
Even after a big-money move to Chelsea, Kanté kept driving his Mini Cooper. He apologizes to opposing fans for beating their teams and even takes some up on their invitation to dinner. Even after the World Cup triumph he played such a big part in, Kanté was too shy to actually grab the trophy.
Since we won’t be seeing any in Qatar, here are three minutes of Kanté smiles. We are really *sniff* going to miss you N’Golo!
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