Kante impressed by ‘exceptional’ France teammate Mbappe

Potential Premier League player of the season N’Golo Kante has revealed his admiration for Monaco’s top performer Kylian Mbappe by saying that he believes what the 18-year-old is doing at Monaco is ‘exceptional’.

The two met at Clairefontaine earlier in the week  where the French squad prepares for their World Cup qualifier match against Luxembourg on March 25.

Kante has turned into Chelsea’s most important player since his arrival from Leicester City in the summer as the Blues are topping the table, undisturbed with a 10-point lead.

Kante is now expected to carry his form into the French team as he replaces injured Paul Pogba. Despite the flurry of events surrounding him this season, Kante hasn’t failed to spot Mbappe’s meteoritic rise across The Channel. 

“What he does at his age is exceptional.” Kante said. “He’s shown things in League One and the Champions League – this is the choice of the coach [if it’s too early to play him].

“In any case, his integration is helped by the presence of quite a few Monaco players. Those who are here today [with France national side] deserve their place. There are quite a few League One players, everything is going well.”

Mbappe convinced Diddier Deschamps to give him his first international call-up after having scored nine goals in his last 11 appearances for Monaco. He has been one of the most talked about players on the Continent in that last few months and his performances have even earned him comparisons to France’s all-time top goal-scorer Thierry Henry.

France’s manager Didder Deschamps said: “Kylian has made the squad because he has shown over the past few months that he has the quality. Quality has no age.”