The Top Five Best Signings From France In Premier League History

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester United News, Transfer News

Tags: Arsenal, Aston Villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

Following our look at the best signings from the Netherlands in our last article, this week we are turning our attention to those players who moved across the English Channel from France.

There have been just as many notable failures as success stories over the years, in terms of signings from French teams, but that is because dealings between clubs in both countries are so frequent.

There are certainly a lot of players to choose from, but we have managed to trim down our list to five names who all had outstanding careers in the English top flight.

Press the next page as we count down the five best Premier League players who were signed from Ligue One.

5) David Ginola (Paris Saint-Germain to Newcastle – £2.5m)

An extremely talented midfielder, with bags of skill, the Frenchman was a breath of fresh air when he first arrived on Tyneside, helping the Magpies mount an unlikely title challenge in the 1995/96 season.

However, Ginola left Newcastle just two years later, going on to win the PFA Players’ Player of the Year with Tottenham in 1999.

4) Didier Drogba (Marseille to Chelsea – £24m)

A formidable target man and with pace to burn, the Ivorian striker was a menace for any opposing defence. He won the Premier League Golden Boot award twice during his time at Chelsea.

On top of that, he will go down in history as the man who scored the winning penalty for the Blues in the 2012 Champions League final.

3) Petr Cech (Rennes to Chelsea – £9m)

A parting gift from Claudio Ranieri, the Czech goalkeeper was a vital part of the Blues’ success during Jose Mourinho’s first spell in charge at Chelsea.

Over eleven years at Stamford Bridge, Cech won four league titles, as well as receiving three Golden Glove awards for keeping the most clean sheets.

2) Eden Hazard (Lille to Chelsea – £32m)

The Blues won the race for the extremely talented winger in 2012, and over a seven-year period at Stamford Bridge, he was one of the standout players in the Premier League.

Hazard won two league titles, as well as the PFA Player of the Year, during his time in England before he left for Real Madrid in 2019.

1) N’Golo Kante (Caen to Leicester – £5.5m)

Nobody had heard of the diminutive French midfielder when he first arrived in England, before the start of the 2015/16 season, but he played an integral role as Leicester shocked the world by winning the league.

A subsequent move to Chelsea led to Kante being named PFA Player of the Year, and Football Writers’ Association Player of the Year a season later.