CHELSEA star N’Golo Kante is known to be one of the most modest footballers in the world.
After all, this was the man who was instrumental in his country’s 2018 World Cup win, but was too shy to lift the trophy until he was pushed onto the podium by French teammate Steven N’Zonzi.
And he refused to be paid part of his Blues salary into an offshore account because he wanted to pay tax on his 290,000 wages, like the rest of us.
Another instance where Kante, 28, has shown his humility is in his choice of motors.
Incredibly, the 5ft 6in star drives the SAME Mini Cooper he bought when he first arrived on our shores with Leicester City in 2015.
Kante paid around 20,000 for the motor new five years ago after arriving from Caen for 5.6m.
So enamoured with it, he sent that car to France, where he drives it whenever he returns home and soon replaced it with an identical Mini soon after to drive to Cobham.
And now, according to webuyanycar.com, his original Mini is now worth just 10,345.
SAY AU REVOIR
It was former teammate Jamie Vardy who revealed Kante had parted with his original Mini.
The pair caught up with one another at Stamford Bridge, when Leicester took on Chelsea.
Kante took his chance to say hello to his old pals and went into the away dressing room.
Vardy told French outlet L’Equipe: “The first thing that I asked him was: ‘Are you still driving your Mini Cooper, mate?’
“He said to me that he had sent the model that he had at Leicester back to France but that he had bought a new Mini Cooper in the meantime!
A NASTY PRANG
In 2018, while on his way to Stamford Bridge for a crunch Premier League game against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup, Kante got into an accident on the King’s Road.
He was believed to have collided with a lorry, which caused thousands of pounds of damage to his beloved car and was notably distressed.
But while he was exchanging details with the other driver, Kante was happy to pose for pictures with fans.
A fan who witnessed the accident told SunSport: His wing mirror was smashed and his front wheel arch was all dented.
He must have been pretty annoyed but he was more than happy for fans to take selfies with him.
Amusingly, two days later he turned up to training at Chelsea with the same wrecked car, much to the amusement of his teammates.
THE LOVE AFFAIR CONTINUES
Despite being surrounded in the players’ car park by Lamborghinis, Ferraris, Bentleys and Range Rovers, Kante prefers to drive his Mini over everything else.
And his love affair with the brand shows no sign of waning anytime soon, admitting he doesn’t feel the need to splash on a fancy motor.
Ive never been someone who loves a car,” he said.
“And when I was young I didnt have the ambition of a car or something like that.”
May you always stay the same, N’Golo.
