Nowadays, N’Golo Kante is considered one of the best central midfielders in the world but just 7 years ago, he was plying his trade in the French third tier.
Speaking for Chelsea FC’s video series ‘Breaking Barriers’, the 29-year-old has detailed how hard work helped him to make the most out of his talent.
“I didn’t always believe that I would become a professional footballer,” the Frenchman said. “When I was younger I played in the lower leagues, I failed quite a few trials at professional clubs.
“When I failed I watched the players in those academies and went home and told myself there was a lot of work to do.
“I worked twice as hard to keep up the hard work and maybe one day it would happen. I think those failures allowed me to build myself to become a professional player.”
“If it’s something you love, you should give the best of yourself,” he concluded. “If it’s not enough, we should find ways of getting better.”
Since joining Chelsea in 2016, Kante won the Premier League, the FA Cup and the Europa League with his club, as well as the World Cup with France.
At the moment, it’s not clear when N’Golo will play his next game for the Blues: initially, he refused to train with the squad as he was concerned about his family’s health. Lately, he’s been back at the Cobham training ground where he’s been working on his fitness individually. So far, he’s not been seen in contact training.