Kante claims Premier League Player of the Season prize

Joe Wright

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Kante claims Premier League Player of the Season prize image

Chelsea midfielder N'Golo Kante has been named the Premier League Player of the Season.

The 26-year-old has enjoyed a superb first year at Stamford Bridge and has already been awarded the PFA and Football Writers' Association prizes for his performances.

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Kante won the most combined votes from a panel of experts, captains of Premier League clubs and a public ballot.

He beat fellow nominees Eden Hazard, Cesar Azpilicueta, Harry Kane, Dele Alli, Jan Vertonghen, Romelu Lukaku and Alexis Sanchez to the prize.

"It's a huge honour to be named player of the year by such big names in football and I want to thank everyone who voted for me," Kante told the Premier League's official website.

"I work hard in training, I try to give my best and I work with so many very good players; that's why we won the league two times.

"We played many good games but we won 5-0 against Everton, which was a very beautiful game, and also my goal against Manchester United [in a 4-0 win]; it is always good to score and I am happy for these two games."

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Kante was a key component of Leicester City's shock title win last season and has been a driving force behind Chelsea's triumph in 2016-17.

He is only the second player to claim back-to-back top-flight titles with different clubs in England, after Mark Schwarzer, who did so with Chelsea in 2014-15 and Leicester the following year.

Joe Wright

Joe Wright Photo

Joe is a Senior Editor at Sporting News. He was previously a sub editor and writer for Goal.com before spending six years as part of the Stats Perform editorial news service, covering major global sports including football, tennis, boxing, NBA, rugby union and athletics. Joe has reported live on some of the biggest games in football, including two UEFA Champions League finals, Euro 2016, the Confederations Cup 2017 and the 2018 World Cup final at the end of a month in Russia.