Football
Mark Rodden 8y

N'Golo Kante gets first ever France call, Dimitri Payet returns

Leicester City midfielder N'Golo Kante has been called into the France squad for the first time ahead of the friendlies against Netherlands and Russia later this month.

Kante, 24, has been rewarded for his superb form for the Premier League leaders, while Dimitri Payet is also recalled by France coach Didier Deschamps after a string of outstanding performances for West Ham.

Kante has featured in all but one of Leicester's league matches this season, helping them to a five-point lead over Tottenham Hotspur at the top of the Premier League.

Deschamps said the player had impressed at Caen last season but that he had proven himself further by performing consistently for the top team in England.

"He's a complete midfielder," Deschamps told reporters after announcing his 23-man squad on Thursday. "He has a great approach to recovering the ball - to sense the path of it and to position himself well.

"But he doesn't just do that. He has the energy to play what they call in England a box-to-box role. He's capable of taking part in attacks too.

"It was definitely less emphasised at Caen, where he also put in some very good performances. "I was already watching him but now he's been highlighted because it's Leicester, they're the surprise and he's stringing together very good performances every game."

The energetic central midfielder, who is also eligible to play for Mali, has earned his first call-up for Les Bleus at the expense of Manchester United's Morgan Schneiderlin.

"It's not that I don't have confidence in Morgan," Deschamps said. "I know what he's capable of doing.

"It was important for me that N'Golo come with us in order to have more information before I take decisions on the squad who will represent France at the Euros."

Attacking midfielder Payet, 28, was chosen ahead of Nice's Hatem Ben Arfa, while winger Mathieu Valbuena has been left out as he continues to struggle for fitness and form at Lyon.

"I have difficult choices to make," Deschamps said when asked why he had dropped Ben Arfa. "If I hadn't selected Dimitri Payet today it would have been for other reasons than his sporting performances.

"And because I don't have other reasons, I've stuck with my sporting reasoning in relation to what he's doing with his club.

"It seems, to my eyes, completely logical that he might return to us for these two matches."

There is also no place for Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema, who remains suspended from the national team despite a legal restriction being lifted last week.

Benzema, 28, was charged with conspiracy to blackmail last November over an alleged attempt to extort money from Valbuena.

He is now allowed to meet Valbuena as a result of last week's ruling, but it had not been expected that he would be made eligible for this month's matches because he is still recovering from an injury.

"It's tiring, honestly," Deschamps said. "I'm here to choose. I will choose. "There are two people who will decide - my president and after that it's me."

Deschamps also resisted the temptation to try to coax Franck Ribery out of retirement after the Bayern Munich attacker hinted that he could be willing to make himself available for France again.

"I'm happy for Franck to see him smiling and that he's rediscovered the joy of playing," he said. "He's played two 90-minute matches back to back - a little more yesterday [against Juventus].

"Beyond that, two words from his mouth excited a lot of people apparently.

"It's not news for those who are following it -- you know as well as me his season at Bayern, where he has had very little game time.

"So you can't get too far ahead of yourself... at the moment, the assessment that I prefer is that I'm happy for him that he's rediscovered this joy that he hadn't had for many months."

Euro 2016 hosts France play Netherlands away on March 25 and Russia at the Stade de France on March 29 in their final games before Deschamps names his squad for the tournament on May 12.

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