Jérémie Aliadière
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jérémie Aliadière | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker / Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Middlesbrough | ||
| Number | 11 | ||
Jérémie Aliadière (born March 30, 1983 in Rambouillet) is a French football player who is currently playing for Middlesbrough.
Biography
Arsenal career
Aliadière signed for Arsenal at the age of 16 before the beginning of the 1999–00 season. Despite displaying considerable {| class="wikitable" |-
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|}talent and promise, his time at the club was hampered by injuries and he was mainly used as a substitute. He made his Premiership debut for Arsenal against Fulham in 2001–02, replacing Thierry Henry in a 4–1 victory, and he scored his first goal in a 5–2 victory over West Bromwich Albion on August 27, 2002.
During 2003-04 he made further inroads into the Arsenal first team, playing 10 Premier League matches (seven as sub), as well as making his FA Cup début in a 1–0 defeat against Manchester United, and netting four goals in that season's League Cup campaign. However, he was injured for much of 2004–05, and was kept out of action until February. Even then, he made only six appearances off the bench for the first team; although he failed to score in these matches, he scored eight goals in five games for Arsenal's reserves.
Despite his limited opportunities, he was always highly thought of by Arsenal manager Arsène Wenger; he was offered and in 2005 signed a contract that ran until the summer of 2009.
He holds the record in the FA Youth Cup for the most amount of goals scored.[citation needed] In addition, the head coach at the famous Clairefontaine academy in France, Claude Dusseau, stated that the three best strikers to come out of the academy in the past 10 years were Nicolas Anelka, Thierry Henry and Jeremie Aliadière[1]; all of whom went on to play for Arsenal. [citation needed] Aliadière also won the best young talent in the Carling Cup season 2003–04.[citation needed]
Loans to Celtic, West Ham and Wolves
Given the limited opportunities at Arsenal and lack of playing experience due to his injuries Arsène Wenger sought to loan him out during the English 2005–06 season. He went on loan to Celtic at the start of the Scottish 2005–06 season in search of regular first team football, but the move was unsuccessful: Aliadière only made two substitute appearances, one in each leg of Celtic's UEFA Champions League loss to Artmedia Bratislava.
On 24 August 2005 the loan contract was transferred to West Ham United and Aliadière moved back to London. However his spell was once again blighted by injury and he only made eight appearances for the Hammers, seven of them as substitute. On January 31, 2006 West Ham terminated his loan, and Aliadière moved to Wolves on loan for the remainder of the 2005–06 season. At the end of the season, he returned to Arsenal with no permanent move made.
Return to Arsenal
In 2006-07 Aliadière mainly played in the League Cup for Arsenal, scoring both goals in their 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion on October 24 2006, and scoring once and setting up two more in Arsenal's quarter-final against Liverpool on January 9 2007, which finished 6-3. In the second leg of the semi-final against Tottenham, he scored in the 105th minute to give Arsenal a 2-1 advantage in the match. He also played four FA Premier League matches during the season; as of January 9 2007 he has played 37 times for Arsenal (25 as substitute), scoring eight goals (all but one coming in the League Cup). In the January 2007 transfer window, Arsene Wenger first said he was allowed to leave the club, but once fellow striker Robin van Persie broke his foot, he was told to stay at Arsenal for the time being. It was rumoured that Middlesbrough F.C. were closest to signing him before the injury to Robin van Persie.
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough completed the signing of Aliadière on 19 June 2007, for an initial fee of £2m.[2]
Honours
- FA Youth Cup: 2000, 2001
- FA Premier League: 2004
- Charity Shield: 2004
- Football League Cup: Runner up 2007
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (June 2007) |
- He was engaged to British model and celebrity Leilani Dowding[3]. The London Evening Standard reported in October 2006 that Dowding and Aliadière had gone their separate ways following a string of arguments.
Notes and References
- ^ "uefa.com - UEFA Champions League - Players - aliadière". uefa.com. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
- ^ "Aliadiere completes Boro switch". BBC Sport. 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2007-06-19.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Celeb Q&A: Leilani Dowding". InsidePoker. 2007-06. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
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