N’Golo Kante is the French Player of the Year for 2017.The Chelsea midfielder received 92 votes, pipping Paris Saint-Germain teenager Kylian Mbappe to the crown by five votes. Kante won back-to-back Premier League titles with Leicester City and then the Blues, and has proved himself to be one of the best midfield enforcers in world football.
Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, still prohibited from appearing for the national team as he fights to have a blackmail case over a sex tape dropped, came third with 52 votes.
France Football organised the poll. The vote included those of previous winners including 2016 winner Antoine Griezmann, France boss Didier Deschamps and ex-(UEFA) president Michel Platini.
Kante, who arrived at Stamford Bridge from Leicester in 2015, this year been named (PFA) Players’ Player of the Year and (FWA) Footballer of the Year. He also claimed Chelsea’s Player of the Year and was included in the Premier League Team of the Season.
