N’Golo Kante is Footballer of the Year

N'Golo Kante is the Footballer of the Year 2017, on the 70th Anniversary of the FWA and football's oldest individual award.

Kante's Chelsea team-mate Eden Hazard was second with Tottenham's Dele Alli coming in third.

Between them, Kante and Hazard polled more than 65 per cent of the votes.

There was a record spread of 17 different players who received votes, with five of them from Chelsea (Kante, Hazard, David Luiz, Diego Costa and Cesar Azpilicueta)

Kante said: "It is a fantastic honour to win this award. With so many great players in this Chelsea squad and in the Premier League, for the Football Writers' Association to name me their Footballer of the Year is a very proud moment in my career."

FWA Chairman Patrick Barclay added: “N'Golo Kante could not be a more deserving winner of English football's most prestigious individual award.

“In the view of some FWA members, he would have been a worthy recipient last season for his contribution to Leicester's title success, but the almost unbroken excellent form of Chelsea since he changed clubs has left little room for further debate.

“Considering the competition of Eden Hazard and other players from Chelsea in particular, this is a great achievement.”

Here is the full list of players who received votes this year, in alphabetical order...

Sergio Aguero

Toby Alderweireld

Dele Alli

Cesar Azpilicueta

Diego Costa

Philippe Coutinho

Jermain Defoe

Ben Foster

Eden Hazard

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Harry Kane

N'Golo Kante

Anthony Knockaert

David Luiz

Romelu Lukaku

Alexis Sanchez

Gylfi Sigurdsson

You can see the full list of previous winners, starting with Sir Stanley Matthews, here: http://footballwriters.co.uk/previous-foty/