N'Golo Kante, Dimitri Payet Named in France Squad for Netherlands, Russia Games

Leicester City's N'Golo Kante and West Ham United's Dimitri Payet have both been rewarded for their excellent recent performances in the Premier League with inclusion in the France national squad for upcoming friendlies against the Netherlands and Russia.

For the uncapped Kante, it is a first-ever call-up, and it was confirmed when Didier Deschamps' squad selection was announced on Thursday, per UEFA's French Twitter feed (via football writer Kristof Terreur):

Notably, the Foxes midfielder made the squad ahead of Manchester United's Morgan Schneiderlin, and this is Payet's first call-up since June 2015.  

Kante and Payet have been two of the best players in the English top flight this season and have had a major influence on their respective sides' lofty positions in the league—Leicester are top, while West Ham are fifth.

French football writer Julien Laurens noted just how far Kante has come to earn a call-up to the national team:

Per the Sunday Times' Jonathan Northcroft, Sir Alex Ferguson recently suggested Kante has been "comfortably" the player of the year in England, and the 24-year-old is undoubtedly deserving of his place in Deschamps' squad.

France's match against the Netherlands takes place in Amsterdam on March 25, and they will host Russia at the Stade de France in Paris four days later.