N’Golo Kante receives £50m+ offer, ex-Chelsea and Leicester star responds
N’Golo Kante has responded to a bumper new contract offer from his club Al-Ittihad amid interest in his services from Fenerbahce.
Kante is into his third season with the Saudi Pro League side since a June 2023 move from Chelsea after seven years at Stamford Bridge.
He made 269 appearances for the Blues, winning the Premier League and Champions League among numerous other trophies, after he had helped Leicester to win their shock league title in 2016.
Kante was tipped to join Man City by pundit Dean Saunders ahead of this month, but a return to English football is not set to be on the cards at 34-years-old.
He has instead been linked with a move to Turkey after two-and-a-half years at Ittihad, with a huge contract offer now on the table from the Saudi club to convince him to stay long-term.
Kante has rejected Al-Ittihad’s £24.2million-per-year contract offer
The Athletic have reported that Kante is advancing in talks to join Super Lig giants Fenerbahce, and they are confident of agreeing a deal.
His Al-Ittihad contract is set to expire this summer, but they are not currently considering his exit in January, midway through their campaign, even though he has reportedly rejected new terms.
Turkish journalist Yagız Sabuncuoglu has claimed, via X, that Kante has rejected their offer to extend his contract for two years, which was made up of a net salary of €28million (£24.2m) and a €4million (£3.4m) bonus.
Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg has reported that the France international has accepted the requested salary reduction from Fenerbahce to make the deal happen, and has said yes to their project, so a deal is expected to happen, despite not being done as it stands.
Who could Kante link up with at Fenerbahce?
Jose Mourinho was sacked by Fenerbahce in August to be replaced by Domenico Tedesco, so there will be no meeting of two Chelsea legends in Istanbul if Kante does make the move soon.
The Turkish giants are yet to lose in the Super Lig this season after 17 games, but their 11 wins and six draws is only enough to see them into second place behind Galatasaray.
If Kante does join Fener soon, he will be linking up with several familiar names to those who follow English football, such as Ederson, Jhon Duran, Matteo Guendouzi, Nelson Semedo and Fred.
Fellow France international Guendouzi had been heavily linked to Sunderland before moving to Turkey last week, and he could well be a key component in persuading Kante to follow him to the club.