TOKYO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 21, 2023--

First the romance, then the new reality. N’Golo Kante’s eight years in England were bookended by two phenomena, two dramatic shifts in the footballing world. In his debut season, came Leicester’s improbable Premier League win, powered by Kante, destined to be a one-off. As he goes, it is to Saudi Arabia, to Al Ittihad, to a project that has greater funds and may have more longevity. Kante, the footballer who famously drove a Mini, will get a supersized salary, reportedly £86m. Selfless running has proved to be a profitable business. That it came in the same summer Leicester were relegated is a coincidence. Yet an era has ended: the three catalysts for English football’s greatest fairytale may not play in the Premier League again, with Jamie Vardy going down with the Foxes and Riyad Mahrez perhaps destined to join Kante in Saudi Arabia. A new force in the global game now is in the Middle East, not the East Midlands. Kante goes as Leicester and Chelsea’s likeable legend, the unassuming and perhaps inimitable – though maybe Moises Caicedo will be charged with emulating him at Stamford Bridge – architect of unexpected triumphs. If xG has been a factor in football in recent years, so has ‘NG’; the latter was a way of confounding predictions. It says something that winning the World Cup may not rank in Kante’s top three achievements; not given the context, anyway, because France were at least among the favourites in 2018. Their prowess, however, relied upon a recurring theme in Kante’s career: his ability to do the work of two men, which in turn released Paul Pogba to adopt a more attacking brief. But the Kante hat-trick consisted of his back-to-back Premier Leagues, with Leicester and Chelsea, who had finished 14th and 10th respectively the previous seasons, and then the 2021 Champions League. Arguably, he was the outstanding player in each competition. In 2015-16, the individual honours went to Vardy and Mahrez, before Kante was named both PFA Player of the Year and Footballer of the Year the following season. Aided by Italy’s triumph at Euro 2020, Jorginho won Uefa’s Player of the Year for 2020-21; it is no slight on the regista to say he was not even the best player in Chelsea’s midfield. Kante, man of the match in the final and both legs of the semi-final, was the small man who doubled up as a big-game player, and not merely because a disproportionate share of his few goals came against Chelsea’s peers. Chelsea won the Champions League by conceding two goals in seven knockout games. Thomas Tuchel branded Kante “our Salah, our Van Dijk, our De Bruyne”. He was right: Chelsea’s x-factor footballer was a runner who was playing in France’s third tier when he turned 22. Kante’s defining attributes seemed prosaic: running – he could cover 13km in a game – tackling and intercepting, which he did more than virtually anyone else. But he felt flawless: the king of tackles was never sent off for either Chelsea or Leicester. And his brilliance was illustrated by his uniqueness: as others sought their own Kante, players who had similar statistics for regaining possession, such as Idrissa Gueye and Wilfred Ndidi, were acquired, but no one else had the full package. Instructive as Tuchel’s tribute was, it was not the most pertinent praise of Kante. That came from the man who brought him to England, Steve Walsh, who took to whispering “Kante” to a sceptical Claudio Ranieri when their paths crossed in corridors and in ultimately successful attempts to persuade the manager to sign him. A year later, with Leicester champions, Walsh reflected that City played three in the heart of midfield in their seemingly anachronistic 4-4-2 formation: “[Danny] Drinkwater in the middle with Kante either side”. And Kante, with his extraordinary energy, held back trends in tactics. There was a sense that teams with him had 12 men. A central-midfield trio tends to be a prerequisite at elite level these days: unless, that is, one of a duo is Kante, covering the ground of two men, compensating for the times he was actually outnumbered. The last two teams to win the Premier League with a central-midfield duo are Leicester and Chelsea; the first as a low-possession team, the second sometimes with the immobile Cesc Fabregas alongside the all-action Kante. In the last decade, only one team has won the Champions League with just two out-and-out central midfielders: Chelsea in 2021. Factor in France in 2018 and Kante made tactics and teams work. Al Ittihad will have to confront the question if such feats are consigned to the past, if a man whose physicality – along with his reading of the game – made him so good is now in decline. He only made nine appearances for Chelsea last season. Graham Potter is entitled to feel himself luckless in at least one respect: Kante was only able to play 33 minutes in his ill-fated tenure. Frank Lampard rather strangely used him as a No 10 against Real Madrid and Brentford. It was a glamour position but Kante was the man who long excelled at the unglamorous. He became a miracle worker by being the greatest worker of his generation. Read More Man Utd see £50m bid rejected for Mason Mount as Chelsea set asking price Ryan Porteous not too envious of Scotland team-mates as he heads back to Watford Almost two thirds of football fans oppose VAR, survey finds

Manchester City are on the brink of a historic treble as Pep Guardiola targets Champions League vindication in Saturday's...

The situation arose when police sought to clear the Jackson-Olin High School stadium after Minor High School's resounding 27-0 victory over Mustangs

Cleveland Browns star running back Nick Chubb was carted off the field with a left knee injury against the Pittsburgh Steelers

Suzanne Somers' longtime publicist wants to clear up false reports that the star was in hospice for the final weeks of her life, saying that while she was "weak," her family and medical team did not expect her to die.

LONDON Adidas is still in the process of getting rid of around 100 stores as the German sportswear

Though the miniseries stars a bunch of MCU characters already, there is a likelihood that other established superheroes might make cameos too

Dele Alli has revealed he was sexually abused at the age of six and was dealing drugs two years later – while a recent fight against a sleeping pill addiction led to a six-week stay at a rehab clinic. The Everton midfielder has seen his football career stall in recent seasons but has now spoken about the reasons behind a mental health battle that saw him contemplate hanging up his boots at the age of 24. In an emotional interview, the Everton midfielder and former England international, now 27, fought back tears as he laid bare his difficult upbringing before he was adopted by the Hickford family. Alli also told Gary Neville in The Overlap podcast, in partnership with Sky Bet, that he only came out of rehab last month as he struggled with his mental health. The 37-cap England star, who spent last season on loan at Turkish side Besiktas, said: “When I came back from Turkey, I came in and I found out that I need an operation and I was in a bad place mentally. “I decided to go to like a modern-day rehab facility for mental health. They deal with like addiction, mental health, and trauma because it was something that I felt like it was time for. “I think with things like that, you can’t be told to go there. I think you have to know, and you have to make the decision yourself, otherwise it’s not going to work.” Alli – a key part of the England side that reached the 2018 World Cup semi-finals – also laid bare the sickening abuse he received as a child, saying he was “molested” at the age of six. “(Childhood) is something I haven’t really spoken about that much, to be honest,” he said. “I was sent to Africa (to stay with his father) to learn discipline, and then I was sent back. At seven, I started smoking, eight I started dealing drugs. “An older person told me that they wouldn’t stop a kid on a bike, so I rode around with my football, and then underneath I’d have the drugs, that was eight. Eleven, I was hung off a bridge by a guy from the next estate, a man. “Twelve, I was adopted – and from then, it was like – I was adopted by an amazing family like I said, I couldn’t have asked for better people to do what they’d done for me. If God created people, it was them. “There were a number of times my adopted family and my brother – you know, it makes me sad – they would take me to rooms crying, asking me to just speak to them, tell them what I’m thinking, how I’m feeling, and I just couldn’t do it because I wanted to deal with it by myself.” After signing for Tottenham from MK Dons, Alli enjoyed a fine run of form that culminated in playing a key role in England’s progress to the World Cup semi-finals in 2018. But he was still battling in silence off the pitch – leading to a “scary” addiction to sleeping pills and a reliance on alcohol. “I got addicted to sleeping tablets and it’s probably a problem that not only I have, I think it’s something that’s going around more than people realise in football,” he said. “I think, without me realising it – the things I was doing to numb the feelings I had...I didn’t realise I was doing it for that purpose, whether it be drinking or whatever. “I don’t want to talk about numbers but it was definitely way too much, and there were some scary moments I had. “To take a sleeping tablet and be ready for the next day is fine, but when you’re broken as I am, it can obviously have the reverse effect because it does work for the problems you want to deal with. “That is the problem – it works until it doesn’t. So yes, I definitely abused them too much. It is scary, now I’m out of it and I look back on it. “Probably the saddest moment for me, was when (Jose) Mourinho was (Tottenham) manager, I think I was 24. I remember there was one session, like one morning I woke up and I had to go to training – this is when he’d stopped playing me – and I was in a bad place. “I mean it sounds dramatic but I was literally staring in the mirror – and I was asking if I could retire now, at 24, doing the thing I love. For me, that was heartbreaking to even have had that thought at 24, to want to retire. That hurt me a lot, that was another thing that I had to carry.” Alli said that he had largely been able to mask his difficulties during his football career but to the detriment of his mental health. He added: “To be honest, I was caught in a bad cycle. I was relying on things that were doing me harm and, yeah, I think I was waking up every day and I was winning the fight, you know, going into training, smiling, showing that I was happy. “But inside, I was definitely losing the battle and it was time for me to change it because when I got injured and they told me I needed surgery, I could feel the feelings I had when the cycle begins and I didn’t want it to happen anymore. “So, I went there [rehab], I went there for six weeks and Everton were amazing about it, you know. They supported me 100 per cent and I’ll be grateful to them forever.” Dele Alli was speaking to Gary Neville on a special episode of The Overlap in partnership with Sky Bet. Read More Five powerful revelations from Dele Alli’s emotional interview Addicted players urged to contact PFA after Dele Alli’s ‘scary’ pill revelation Dele Alli labels Mauricio Pochettino the ‘best’ manager of his career ‘Powerful and brave’: Dele Alli praised for interview about abuse and addiction Lionesses bonus row could drag on until after World Cup Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Jurrien Timber – this is Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal now

According to medical findings, the 'extremely thin and emaciated' Cora Laszkiewicz stood at 5’5" and weighed 70 pounds at the time of death

Migos rapper Quavo has released his second solo album, “Rocket Power.”

As people flock to beaches, lakes and pools this Memorial Day to celebrate the unofficial start of summer, the swimmers are here -- but the lifeguards aren't. At least, that's what some parks departments and agencies around the country are saying as they scramble to find and keep lifeguards on duty for the season.