Former Chelsea star N’Golo Kante bought Belgian third division side Royal Excelsior Virton, according to GOAL.

Current owner Flavio Becca will hand over Royal Excelsior Virton to the French star officially on July 1. The club has confirmed the move in a statement on the club’s official website under the slogans ‘Together, aways higher’ and ‘Small town, big dreams.’

Becca became owner of the club in 2018 and they immediately prospered, managing to get promoted to the second division for the first time in their history. In the following season, they came close to gaining promotion to the top division but missed out by a whisker, eventually finishing second.

Royal Excelsior were relegated from the second division in the 2022-23 season but the club are completely debt free and will appoint a new board of directors shortly.

A club statement revealed Becca is thrilled to be handed ownership to Kante.

“Flavio is obviously extremely happy to be able to hand over the keys of the club to N’Golo Kanté, a high-class player, not only for his footballing qualities but also and above all for his unanimously recognized human qualities.”