Chelsea Players’ Player of the Year

N’Golo Kante was the choice of his team-mates for 2016/17, mirroring his winning of the nationwide PFA Players’ Player of the Year Award last month. Those two added to the Football Writers’ Footballer of the Year and Premier League Player of the Year gives a remarkable haul of individual honours for the French midfielder who has excelled as a team player too, winning back-to-back Premier Leagues with Leicester and Chelsea.

This was the one trophy not handed over on the night. That had already happened when David Luiz and Kurt Zouma, in possession of a microphone, had stormed the dressing room at Cobham but Kante was still able to thank his colleagues in Battersea.

‘Because we spend so long together, and we win together and we lose together, to be named by the other players is something special,’ he said. ‘I spent a very good season here.

‘We were unlucky we did not win yesterday but it was a good season and hopefully next season we are going to be stronger.’

