The Chelsea and French midfielder has emerged among the favorites in the race for the coveted individual award.

France head coach Didier Deschamps has played down the possibility of N'Golo Kante winning this year's Ballon d'Or. The 52-year-old World Cup winner has said that he does not believe that the midfielder meets the requirements due to the role he is noted for.

After playing stellar roles in Chelsea's historic Champions League win last weekend, Kante has emerged as he bookie's favorite to win this year's Ballon d'Or. Before putting in the massive erformance against Manchester City, the 30-year-old Frenchman also worked his socks off to secure back to back Man of the Match awards in the penultimates clashes against Real Madrid. At the moment, he is ranked ahead of Barcelona's Lionel Messi and Juventus' Cristiano Ronaldo in the race for France Football coveted prize for men's football's top performers although Bayerb Munich's Robert Lewandowski and PSG's Kylian Mbappe remain in the picture.

The player's manager on the national level Didier Deschamps, however, feels indifferent about his chances. Speaking in an interview with RMC, he cooled the speculations surrounding the prospect of his midfield star winning the Ballon D'Or. He said: "I do not know if it is accessible for a player who is not creative, who does not score much. He can score a few goals and put together a few assists but as a general rule… It has happened, there was Fabio Cannavaro (in 2006) or others back then, like Matthis Sammer (in 1996).

"As a general role, in the majority of cases, it is attributed to a creative player."

N'Golo Kante and Chelsea teammates Olivier Giroud and Kurt Zouma joined up with the France national team today as they prepare for this summer's European championship. Les Bleus will take on Wales and Bulgaria before they go up against Germany, Hungary and Portugal in their Group F fixtures at the tournament.