Kante moves to Al Ittihad FC

Chelsea FC midfielder N'Golo Kante is moving to Al Ittihad FC in the Saudi Arabian professional soccer league.

"N'Golo Kante is an Al Ittihad player. He has completed his medical test and signed his contract," the club said on social media Wednesday. According to ESPN, the former French national team player has signed a three-year contract with the Saudia Arabian club for an annual salary of 86 million British pounds (109 million U.S. dollars). Kante's contract with Chelsea ends on June 30. On June 7, Al Ittihad signed Karim Benzema, who previously played alongside Kante on the French national team. Benzema, last year's Ballon d'Or winner, reportedly signed a two-year contract with the club for an annual salary of 400 million euros (436 million dollars).

Kante helped Leicester City FC win the English Premier League title in the 2015-2016 season. Kante moved to Chelsea in July 2016 and spent six seasons as a key player there, winning the EPL (2016-2017), UEFA Champions League (2020-2021), and FA Cup (2017-2018). Kante also helped France win the 2018 World Cup in Russia. However, a hamstring injury limited him to only nine appearances for his club in the 2022-2023 season, and he ended up missing the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.


Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com