5 of the best debut seasons in Premier League history

#5: N’Golo Kante

N'Golo Kante's tremendous performances helped Leicester to secure a shock Premier League title win in his debut season

Only two players have ever won the Premier League title in back-to-back seasons with different clubs – the first, goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer, technically won titles with Chelsea in 2014/15 and Leicester City in 2015/16 but made no appearances for either side in league action. The second man, on the other hand, had far more impact. His name? N’Golo Kante.

Signed by Leicester from French side Caen in the summer of 2015, Kante only cost a paltry £5m and arrived as essentially an unknown. By the end of 2015/16 though, he’d helped the Foxes to their miraculous Premier League title victory and was widely recognised as perhaps the most effective midfielder in the whole country.

In a remarkable debut season, Kante played in all but one of Leicester’s Premier League fixtures and racked up some phenomenal statistics, putting in the most tackles (175, 31 more than any other player) and the most interceptions (157, 15 more than any other player).

He was named in the PFA Team of the Season, and in a famous quote, Steve Walsh – the man who initially scouted him for Leicester – said “they played three in midfield – Drinkwater in the middle and Kante on either side”.

The summer of 2016 saw him depart from the King Power Stadium for Chelsea – and subsequently, they won the Premier League title in the 2016/17 season while Leicester slipped down to 12th place, showing how much of an important role he’d played for them.

For playing such a huge part in the biggest upset title win in Premier League history, Kante’s debut season definitely ranks amongst the greatest.