CHELSEA’s world-class midfielder N’Golo Kante says his ‘nice guy’ image is ‘overblown’.
And the French World Cup winner reckons there are plenty of other people like him in football.
WIN £50,000! Play Dream Team Euros – our FREE fantasy football game
Kante is widely considered to be the ‘nicest bloke in football’.
The 30-year-old reportedly refused to let his image rights be paid to an offshore tax haven, instead telling Chelsea he just wants a ‘normal salary’.
He was too shy to have a picture taken with the World Cup trophy after France’s 2018 victory.
And he only drives a Mini despite pulling in around £150,000-a-week at Stamford Bridge.
But despite his affable reputation, Kante has tried to play it down.
Speaking ahead of France’s Euro 2020 opener against Germany on Tuesday, he said: “I am just a normal guy.
“There is no need to say I am the kindest or the nicest. I am just a player like the others.
“I think that sometimes it is overblown. It does not need to be. There are other people like that in football.”
BETTING OFFERS – CLAIM OVER £2000 IN FREE BETS
WIN £50,000 with Dream Team Euros
Dream Team Euros is HERE!
The best fantasy football game to accompany Euro 2020 has arrived.
And you can play absolutely FREE for your chance to win the £50,000 jackpot.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR FREE!
Dream Team Euros
- £50,000 jackpot
- The best fantasy football game this summer
- Play in mini-leagues against your mates, colleagues, family members – and some hand-picked celebrities
- FREE to play
Whatever Kante says, it’s hard to think of many more humble or friendly stars in football.
And here’s a few reasons why.
SAYING NO TO TAX HAVEN
Even though payment from an offshore company could have reportedly saved Kante around £870,000 a year, the ‘increasingly concerned’ Frenchman instead reached agreement with a British company.
Kante’s decision earned widespread praise – and complimentary comparisons with many other celebrities.
TOO SHY TO HOLD THE WORLD CUP
Anchorman Kante was spotted by Steven N’Zonzi hanging around at the back of the pack as France celebrated winning the World Cup for the first time in Moscow.
Seville star N’Zonzi got the trophy off Florian Thauvin so Kante could pose with it.
Shy Kante even had to ask team-mates to let him have a photo with the world’s most iconic piece of silverware.
Kante, who played the 4-2 final win over Croatia with a stomach bug, also asked France players to calm down when they loudly chanted his name.
HE’S A MINI MARVEL
While Kante’s team-mates roll-up in luxury cars, the Frenchman turns up in the second-hand Mini Cooper he bought when he joined Leicester.
He also collided with a lorry but still drove the patched-up motor into training.
An accident witness said: “He must have been pretty annoyed but he was more than happy for fans to take selfies with him.”
Kante himself said of his modest motoring habits: “I’ve never been someone who loves a car and when I was young I didn’t have the ambition of a car or something like that.”
ONE OF THE PEOPLE
Ever-reliable Blues’ hero Kante turned a missed Eurostar trip home to his Paris-based family into a special evening for another household he did not know until that night
Following the 4-1 Premier League defeat of Cardiff, Kante was late for his train, so the devout Muslim searched for a local mosque on his phone so he could go to evening prayer.
A small group of football fans there recognised him and invited him back for dinner – where they cooked him a curry, chatted, played Fifa and watched Match of the Day – starring, of course, Kante himself.
⚽ Follow ALL of the latest news and updates from Euro 2020 with our live blog
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
