N’Golo Kanté leaves Saudi Arabia to join Fenerbahçe | OneFootball

The French midfielder and world champion N’Golo Kanté has joined Fenerbahçe after two and a half seasons with Al-Ittihad in the Saudi league, the Turkish club announced this Wednesday.

“Some stories take time, but never end. Welcome to Fenerbahçe, N’Golo Kanté,” wrote the Istanbul club on X, after announcing the failure of the transfer on Tuesday, blaming the Saudi club Al-Ittihad for the impasse.

Fenerbahçe, which did not specify the duration of the contract, had stated in a lengthy press release that the Al-Ittihad officials had “incorrectly entered” the information regarding the Frenchman's transfer into the FIFA transfer system (TMS), just as the transfer window was closing in Saudi Arabia.

According to the Turkish press, Kanté, 34, refused to train on Tuesday to pressure his officials and force his move to Fenerbahçe, a club he had been rumored to transfer to for several weeks.

FIFA eventually gave its approval for the midfielder's transfer.

The goal of the French player (65 games for the national team), who joins a club competing in the Europa League, is to stay in top form for the World Cup, which will be held in the United States, Mexico, and Canada (from June 11 to July 19).

As a demonstration of the confidence placed in him by coach Didier Deschamps, he was called up for Euro 2024 and immediately regained his starting position after two years of absence from the French national team.

Although his performance may have declined in the tournament in Germany, the experience of the 2018 World Cup champion remains unparalleled, a crucial factor for a competition with 48 teams that promises to be challenging.

*With content from AFP

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.