How mild-mannered Kante became a destructive dynamo in England

The cult of N'Golo Kante may be reaching its crescendo. The Mini-driving, diminutive firecracker of a midfielder has been the British bookmakers' favourite to win the PFA Player of the Year for months, and on Sunday he could be finally bestowed with the most coveted individual award in English football.

Championing Chelsea's Kante has become a proud example of going against the grain. For the past 11 years, the gong has been handed to those who weigh in with goals, assists, and party tricks; footballers who've been nabbed from noted talent incubators across the globe to become ready-to-assemble furniture on the world stage for the next decade or so. See Cristiano Ronaldo's Sporting Lisbon education, Luis Suarez's polishing at Ajax Amsterdam, and Eden Hazard, who came through Lille, one of France's many thriving academies.

Like last year's winner Riyad Mahrez, Kante had to toil through the Gallic grassroots, but that's where the similarities with his ex-Leicester City teammate end. The 26-year-old is the beneficiary of an era where lots of football analysis rests on statistics - and how we love numbers on tackles and interceptions - and he plays in a role that went greatly underappreciated in England until Jose Mourinho introduced us to Claude Makelele. Before then it was a position for purveyors of bruising challenges, and little else.

(Photo courtesy: Action Images)

There is, however, an argument that Kante is entirely unique - a player of such breathlessness and industry that has never been seen before in England. Who nips in with that many interventions in the Premier League's brutal engine room? How did this unassuming, pint-sized Parisian of Malian parents become one of the most telling presences in the top flight?

'Liked to keep himself to himself'

"He was very receptive to coaching - with tactical information or positioning, where to be on the field," Kante's former coach at western Paris minnow JS Suresnes, Piotr Wojtyna, told BBC Sport.

"He always listened very carefully and the decisions he made on the pitch were very intelligent. I always put him with the weakest kids because his efforts counted for double."

Even then, the tiny lad (middle in photo below) from a block of Rueil-Malmaison flats a mile down the road was a little different - both on the pitch and off it.

(Photo courtesy: The Sun)

Eventually, despite being shunned by Paris Saint-Germain, Lorient, Rennes, Sochaux, and many other clubs, Kante was plucked from the ninth rung of the French football ladder by Boulogne. The club was relegated to the third tier by the time he became a first-team regular.

Eric Vandenabeele, a former teammate on the northern French coast, recalled to The Sun's Fred Nathan and Justin Allen a youngster who "liked to keep himself to himself and never went to parties," while Brentford's Maxime Colin, who was also at Boulogne, remembers Kante's unrivalled focus and independence.

"I remember seeing him going to the supermarket in France with his little bag and his push scooter - he wants to do everything himself," Colin told BBC Sport.

"Boulogne was very hilly but he would turn up to training on his scooter. If you offer him a lift, most of the time he says, 'No, I will go by myself.' That's why he is so strong mentally, he came from really low and did all this by himself."

After a decade-long stasis at JS Suresnes, Kante's ascent was natural. He got snapped up by SM Caen in 2013, helping it to promotion to the top flight in his first term. In his second campaign there, he won the ball back more than any other player in Europe and helped his employer justify its status as a Ligue 1 outfit. That's when Leicester came calling.

'Misguided hipsterism'

Kante is now set to become the first player to win consecutive titles with two different clubs since Eric Cantona did it with Leeds United and Manchester United in 1991-92 and 1992-93.

The only thing that looks to stop Kante from being named PFA Player of the Year is a quick falling out of fashion with his Premier League contemporaries. Deep-lying midfielders' popularity should now endure in England, but in a spot where "students" of the game tend to favour understated technical brilliance, perhaps the simple brashness of Kante's approach will scupper his charge for an individual award.

In an article pledging support for the Hazard camp in March, the Guardian's Barney Ronay stated:

There is sense in the public championing of Kante of willed, misguided hipsterism, like announcing that, no, popular music is simply too crass, you prefer the more complex hidden emotional palette of obscure modern jazz, before triumphantly sticking on your favourite Michael Buble CD.

Perhaps it's a bit harsh to compare one of the Premier League's finest with the vexing Canadian crooner, but there's no doubting that Kante's main attributes are ones that tend to satisfy the less refined palettes - but he just does them so well.

There is also a feeling that the unassuming character who "never wanted to be a superstar," according to Vandenabeele, wouldn't really care too much if he missed out on the award.

Despite swapping his scooter for a second-hand Mini since his Boulogne days, he would still joyfully roll back home.