N'Golo Kante and his beloved Mini Cooper are the stuff of legend.Football fans seem to be absolutely besotted with the way that Chelsea's midfield general goes about his life and there's no denying that his choice of motor contributes to that entire narrative.The simple fact of the matter is that supporters really seem to hone in on the humility and unassuming aura that Kante gives off when he's arriving to training in his inconspicuous motor.
Footballers and their car collections
Well, inconspicuous when he's not driving a battered and bruised version of the iconic vehicle into Cobham having been involved in a collision with a lorry. But that's a whole different story...
It just so happens that Kante appears to opt for subtler options than your typical footballer when it comes to automobiles, and that seems to be showing in the price department too.
That's because new research by Vanarama ahead of the FA Cup final has delved deep into just how much some of the world's most famous footballers are spending on their car collections.
The automative experts at the company have analysed the garages of 30 high-profile players, calculating the total value as well as how many daily wage packets it would take to afford it all.
Tottenham 3-0 Arsenal Match Reaction (Football Terrace)
How does Kante compare to other stars?
Naturally, Kante finishes at the lower end of the spectrum with an estimated garage worth of £93,000, which has been buoyed by his purchase of the flashier Mercedes-Benz GLE Coupe.
But he nevertheless remains one of only four players in the study to have a car collection worth than less than £100,000 with Diogo Jota, Alisson Becker and Edouard Mendy also keeping things modest(ish).
Whereas it's fair to say that some of the highest-earning players in the beautiful game have splashed out a little more on their motors - and fair play to them because we could hardly say that we'd do otherwise.
The study claims that Cristiano Ronaldo's garage tips the scales at an eye-watering £18,000,000, but that his eternal rival Lionel Messi actually blows him out of the water with a £28-million collection.
However, that's merely the tip of the iceberg with plenty of fascinating stats to be had, so be sure to look under the bonnet of footballing car collections by checking out the full study down below:
Ronaldo and Messi have particularly eye-watering car collections.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's still got nothing on the mean machine that is my Toyota Aygo.
Those motors don't come cheap...
Ok, jokes aside, it's definitely head-spinning to see how many footballers have car collections swelling into the millions and that's before we spy just how quickly they could afford it all.
Besides, even if a Mini Cooper might be the pride of Kante's fleet, it's still remarkable to think that he could pay off every car in his garage from just two days of work at Chelsea.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, on the other hand, needs to rely on the best part of a year to amass the equivalent worth of his £3.9-million collection from his reported £80,000-a-week wages.
Soccer Football - LaLiga - FC Barcelona v Athletic Bilbao, Camp Nou, Barcelona, Spain, February 27, 2022 FC Barcelona's Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang celebrates scoring their first goal REUTERS/Albert Gea
But from Ronaldo to Messi and Karim Benzema to Zlatan Ibrahimovic, we'd be pretty cold for our hearts not to still be with Kante's Mini Cooper despite all the glitz and glam of these swanky car armadas.