Leicester make double swoop for Kante and Benalouane
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| AFP |
Kante, 24, joined from Ligue 1 side Caen for an undisclosed fee after agreeing a four-year deal. He became new Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri's first signing and the Italian quickly added a second new arrival with the capture of Tunisian international Benalouane, who also put pen to paper on a four-year contract after the Foxes negotiated an undisclosed fee to lure him from Italy.
"Defender Yohan Benalouane has completed a move to Leicester City on a four-year deal subject to international clearance and Premier League and FA approval," the club said in a statement. Benalouane started his career at St Etienne before moving to Italy in 2010, when he signed for newly promoted Cesena in Serie A.
He moved to Parma in 2012 before a switch to Atalanta in January 2014. Kante joined Caen from US Boulogne in 2013 and helped them to promotion from Ligue 2 a year later and played 37 times, scoring twice, in Ligue 1 last season.
Kante and Benalouane will go straight into the squad for Saturday's Premier League opener against Sunderland. The duo arrive after Robert Huth, Christian Fuchs and Shinji Okazaki were brought to the King Power Stadium before Ranieri was hired as a replacement for the sacked Nigel Pearson, who helped Leicester avoid the drop by hitting a remarkable vein of form in the run-in last season.