Jérémie Aliadière
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Jérémie Aliadière | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Striker or Winger | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Middlesbrough | ||
| Number | 10 | ||
Jérémie Aliadière (born March 30 1983 in Rambouillet) is a French football player who is currently playing for Middlesbrough. He is of Swiss heritage.
Club career
Arsenal
Breaking into the First Team
Aliadière signed for Arsenal at the age of 16 before the beginning of the 1999–00 season. Despite displaying considerable 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.
2003-2004 season
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.
2004-2005 Season
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 number 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. Aliadière also won the best young talent in the Carling Cup season 2003–04.[2]
2005-2006 Season Celtic Wolves and West Ham United(Loan)
Given the limited opportunities at Arsenal and lack of playing experience due to his injuries, Wenger decided 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 August 24 2005 he decided to move back to England after a lack of first-team opportunities, and West Ham took over the year-long deal. It is thought that his disappointment at being behind strikers John Hartson, new signing Maciej Zurawski and youngsters Shaun Maloney and Craig Beattie contributed to his departure. [3]
2006-2007 Season
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
2007-2008 Season
Middlesbrough completed the signing of Aliadière on 19 June 2007, for an initial fee of £2 million. He scored his first goal in a Premier League match against Manchester United at Old Trafford. The goal came three minutes after portoguse midfielder Nani had scored. Tukish international striker, Tuncay Sanli played in a wonderful cross and Aliadière scored a great glancing header to level the match as 1-1. Middlesbrough went on to lose the game 4-1. Goals coming from Nani, Carlos Tevez and a double from Wayne Rooney. This was his first Premier League goal since Tuesday 27 August 2002, when he scored his first ever goal for Arsenal against West Bromich Albion in a 5-2 home victory at Highbury. Scoring the fifth goal in the match. Aliadiere scored his second Middlesbrough goal against Wigan Athletic. He scored his third goal against Fulham F.C., slotting the ball under Fulham's goalkeeper Antti Niemi. He scored midway through the first half against his old team, Arsenal F.C, on 15 March before rounding off his season on the final day with the seventh in an 8-1 rout of Manchester City on 11 May 2008.
2008-2009 Season
Aliadière had a slow start to the 2008-2009 season, but on Saturday 4th October 2008 he scored his first goal of the new season in a 1-0 win against Wigan Athletic at the JJB Stadium. The goal came in the 89th minute of the match.
Red Card Controversy
Jérémie Aliadière got a red card in a February 23 2008 Barclays Premier League match against Liverpool F.C., for slapping Javier Mascherano. This sending off of Aliadière (whose had previously had his nose squeezed by Mascherano in full view of the referee), and Middlesbrough's consequent appeal being deemed as "frivolous" by Football's governing body, has drawn great debate. Boro's chief executive Keith Lamb labeled the decision a 'travesty of justice' and said "it seems strange that only recently Chelsea's appeal against Michael Essien's three-match ban was rejected but not considered 'frivolous'.... It appears that there is one rule for the big boys and another for the rest of us." [4] Meanwhile, chairman Steve Gibson stated live on BBC One's Match Of The Day that "I think they are of a level of competence which should not be tolerated at an organisation of that importance." [5] The club received wide-spread support from (for example) Match Of The Day broadcasters, and fellow premiership manager Harry Redknapp added that "one gets sent off, one doesn't, and then they appeal and he gets an extra game" before continuing that "Middlesbrough felt they had the right to appeal and to give him another game - I think it's scandalous." [6]
Honours
- FA Youth Cup: 2000, 2001
- FA Premier League: 2002, 2004
- Charity Shield: 2004
- Football League Cup: Runner up 2007
- F.A Cup: 2003, 2005
Personal life
Aliadière was engaged to British model and celebrity Leilani Dowding.[7] The London Evening Standard reported in October 2006 that Dowding and Aliadière had gone their separate ways following a string of arguments. He recently got engaged to Zoe Jones and they are expecting their first child.
Notes
- ^ "uefa.com - UEFA Champions League - Players - aliadière". uefa.com. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
- ^ Rising Stars Retrieved on December 1 2007
- ^ The loan contract was transferred to West Ham 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."Aliadiere signs on at Celtic Park". BBC Sport. 2005-07-01. Retrieved 2007-11-25.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Lamb Slaughters FA". Sky Sports. 2008-02-27. Retrieved 2008-02-27.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Gibson rages at FA over appeal". BBC Sport. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Harry Slams Appeals Process". Sky Sports. 2008-02-28. Retrieved 2008-02-28.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Celeb Q&A: Leilani Dowding". InsidePoker. 2007-06. Retrieved 2007-07-13.
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