Djimi Traoré
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Djimi Traoré | ||
| Height | 1,91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre Back, Left Full Back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Charlton Athletic | ||
| Number | 22 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 20 April 2006 | |||
Djimi Traoré (born March 1, 1980 in Laval) is a French-born Malian football player, who can play as a left back or as a centre back. He currently plays for Charlton Athletic, who signed him from Liverpool for £2 million in August 2006.
Traoré started his career at home club Laval before moving on to Liverpool, with Gérard Houllier paying £500,000 for him in February 1999. His career at Liverpool has had some ups and downs — he played for most of the 2002–03 season, deputising for the injured Stéphane Henchoz, having been on loan with French club Lens the previous season.
He spent the 2003-04 season, Houllier's last at the club, in the reserve team, of which he was captain, and almost left Liverpool for their Merseyside neighbours Everton on the 2004 transfer deadline day but remained at Anfield, where he has mostly been employed at left back.
Traoré was a player whose career appeared to have been revitalised by Rafael Benítez. While the defender had been continually exposed for being poor positionally, and seemed reticent to attack, particularly during the 2004-05 season he showed more willingness to support the left winger, as well as improving his positional play.
Nonetheless, his mistakes opened him up to a large amount of criticism. Memorably, Traoré's bizarre own-goal handed Championship side Burnley a 1-0 victory over Premiership giants Liverpool in the third round of the 2004–05 FA Cup, and also forced viewers to wonder whether his attempt to perform a combination of a Zinedine Zidane drag-back and a Cruijff turn on the edge of his own six-yard box characterised a certain Premiership haughtiness towards humble opposition. [1]
While Traoré was poor in the first half of the 2005 Champions League Final against AC Milan (as indeed were most of the Liverpool team), he improved substantially in the second half (as indeed did most of the Liverpool team). His greatest moment was clearing a shot from Andriy Shevchenko off the goal-line. Traoré now has a UEFA Champions League winners medal, becoming the first Malian to ever achieve this feat.
In the 2005-06 season, Traoré found his first team appearances limited, with John Arne Riise and Stephen Warnock also starting regularly at left back. It was to prove his last season with Liverpool, and, although he had played some part in Liverpool's pre-season in 2006, he was sold for £2 million to Charlton Athletic on the 8 August 2006.[2]
Statistics
| Club | Season | Premiership | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Liverpool FC | 2005-06 | 14 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 23 | 0 |
| 2004-05 | 26 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 42 | 0 | |
| 2003-04 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 1 | |
| 2002-03 | 32 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 49 | 0 | |
| Club | Season | Ligue 1 | French Cup | Ligue Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Lens Loan | 2001-02 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| Club | Season | Premiership | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Liverpool FC | 2001-02 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2000-01 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1999-00 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| 1998-99 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Club | Season | Ligue 2 | French Cup | Ligue Cup | Europe | Others | Total | ||||||
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | ||
| Laval | 1998-99 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 1997-98 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 111 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 32 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 165 | 1 | |
Career Honours
Liverpool
Winner
- 2001–02 Charity Shield
- 2002–03 League Cup
- 2004–05 UEFA Champions League
- 2005–06 FA Cup
Runner Up
- 2002–03 Charity Shield
- 2004–05 League Cup
- 2005 FIFA World Club Championship
Lens
Runner Up
- 2001–02 French Ligue 1