N’Golo Kante joins Karim Benzema at Al Ittihad with more Chelsea players expected to go to Saudi Arabia

N’Golo Kante has completed his move to Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad, it has been announced.

The midfielder leaves Chelsea after seven years at the club to join France teammate Karim Benzema at Al Ittihad, where he’s signed a four-year deal.

Like many of the players moving from Europe to the Middle East, Kante will be pocketing eye-watering wages with transfer expert Fabrizio Romano reporting he will earn €100million (approximately £85.5m) plus image and commercial rights over the course of his four-year deal.

It’s understood the 32-year-old will be unveiled as an Al Ittihad player in July.

Kante becomes the latest big name to leave Europe for Saudi Arabia, which was spearheaded by Cristiano Ronaldo when he joined Al Nassr in January.

Benzema joined reigning Saudi Pro League champions Al Ittihad earlier in the summer, while Wolves midfielder is set to complete a move to Al Hilal.

A number of Kante’s former teammates are Chelsea have also been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia including Edouard Mendy, Kalidou Koulibaly, Hakim Ziyech and Romelu Lukaku.

Chelsea are in need of a summer clearout in order to avoid being in breach of financial fair play rules with Todd Boehly spending over £600million on transfers since taking control of the club in May 2022.

Kante becomes the first senior outgoing at Stamford Bridge this summer while Mason Mount looks set to join Manchester United.

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The Kante announcement comes on the same day Chelsea confirmed the £63million signing of forward Christopher Nkunku from RB Leipzig.