N’GOLO KANTE is the French Player of the Year for 2017.
The Chelsea midfielder recived 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.
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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.
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Strangely, team mate Tiemoue Bakayoko caused outrage amongst Chelsea fans by comparing himself to Kante.
Blues supporters have labelled him as delusional after the 23-year-old insisted he was just as good as last season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year.
Bakayoko, left out of the October French World Cup qualifiers, told L’Equipe:
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“I think [Adrien] Rabiot, Kante, [Blaise] Matuidi, [Corentin] Tolisso are no better than me. I respect the choices of the coach and I also respect the selected players, they are talented, they are friends.
“I am proud that they are selected, I would like to be with them. But I’m not worse than them.”
Boxing Day action sees the 26-year-old taking on Brighton as Chelsea look to close the yawning gap between themselves and Premier League leaders Manchester City.
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