Louis Saha

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Louis Saha
Louis Saha, Everton.jpg
Louis Saha, 2009
Personnel
Surname Louis Laurent Saha
birthday August 8, 1978
place of birth Paris ,  France
size 184 cm
position striker
Juniors
Years station
1996-1997 FC Metz
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
1997-2000 FC Metz 47 0(5)
1998-1999 →  Newcastle United  (Loan) 11 0(1)
2000-2004 Fulham FC 117 (53)
2004-2008 Manchester United 86 (28)
2008–2012 Everton FC 97 (27)
2012 Tottenham Hotspur 10 0(3)
2012-2013 Sunderland AFC 11 0(0)
2013 Lazio Rome 6 0(0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals)
1995-1996 France U-17 5 0(1)
1996-1997 France U18 13 0(6)
2004–2012 France 20 0(4)
1 Only league games are given.
Saha, shortly after arriving at Fulham FC .

Louis Laurent Saha (born August 8, 1978 in Paris ) is a former French football player .

Club career

FC Metz

The 1.84 m tall left-footed Saha began playing football in the offspring of an amateur club in a Paris suburb. He was later appointed to the INF Clairefontaine , the nationwide youth academy of the French football association FFF, where he met Thierry Henry . In 1996 he was signed by FC Metz , for whom he played one year in the youth team. In 1997 he joined the professional team there. In his first season he came to 21 games, but his relationship with coach Joël Muller was not good. The dribbling striker remembered that he “didn't get the impression” that Muller “trusted him one hundred percent”. In his first season, Metz was runner-up behind the RC Lens . This would remain Saha's greatest success in France.

Newcastle United

During the winter break of 1998/99, Saha was loaned to England to Newcastle United . He made his Premier League debut on January 9, 1999 against Chelsea . In the 0-1 defeat, he came on in the 57th minute for Andreas Andersson . Six weeks later, Saha scored his first league goal for Newcastle. In the home game against Coventry City he scored a goal to mean 3-1. This should be his only league goal for Newcastle. Saha felt comfortable there. Commenting on his time in Newcastle upon Tyne , he said: “ In Newcastle the atmosphere was more relaxed and I had more space on the field as a striker than in France. Most important, however, was the atmosphere in the stands. I felt lifted. “Saha reached the final of the FA Cup with his club , which they lost 2-0 to Manchester United . For this game Saha was not considered by coach Ruud Gullit . At the end of the season he returned to France, but only stayed in Metz for a year.

Fulham FC

In 2000 Saha was brought back to England after moderate success in France by former French international Jean Tigana , where he was loaned by Fulham FC . Saha said he was "relieved, although the club played in the second division". The move to Fulham turned out to be fortunate and Saha scored 32 goals in his first season (2000/01). At the end of the season, his new club was promoted to the Premier League for the first time since 1968. In the first half of the 2003-04 season, Saha scored 15 goals for his club. Because of his good performance, he was named Player of the Month in the first month of the new season . During the season he scored a brace against Manchester and Chelsea. In the 2002/03 season, Saha had to contend with injuries and was not used as often as in the previous season. Nevertheless, he scored five goals, only one less than Fulham's top scorer Steed Malbranque , who had played more than twice as many games as Saha. The following year Saha was fully resilient again and developed into a goal scorer for his club. By matchday 21 he scored 13 goals, including a brace each against Portsmouth FC , Leeds United and Southampton FC . The striker made his last game for Fulham on January 10, 2004 against Everton .

Manchester United

Manchester United bought him on January 23, 2004 for 14.5 million euros. He took over the shirt number 9, which had not been awarded since Andy Coles left two years earlier. Eight days later, on January 31, 2004, he made his Manchester United debut against Southampton FC and scored a free-kick goal. His post-game comment: “ Crazy! I still can't believe I'm at the best club in the world. “In his second season for Manchester United he was thrown back again and again by injuries and only scored one goal in 14 league games. He was mostly in the shadow of Wayne Rooney , Alan Smith and Ruud van Nistelrooy . The next two years would be Saha’s most successful period at United. In the storm he had a hard time beating van Nistelrooy and Rooney, but he made regular appearances and goals. In 2006 the striker won his first title with Manchester United: They reached the final of the League Cup and beat Wigan Athletic there . In the 4-0 win, Saha contributed the goal to the 2-0. Throughout the tournament he was the top scorer of all teams. In 2007 and 2008 they became English champions and won the FA Community Shield . But Saha was not used in either the 2007 or 2008 final. However, the greatest success came in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League when Manchester beat Chelsea on penalties. But here, too, Saha was only a spectator. In summer 2008 they were facing a separation.

Louis Saha in the 2006 Manchester United shirt

Everton FC

For an unknown transfer fee, he left the then reigning champions on August 29 and moved to Everton. The striker received a contract until 2010 with an option for another year. Since Saha was out due to injury at the beginning of the season, he made his league debut for Everton on September 21, 2009 against Hull City . At that time, Everton's coach David Moyes replaced him at halftime for Segundo Castillo . Saha had to wait until matchday 11 for his first goal for the new employer. Against his former club Fulham he scored the only goal of the encounter and thus led his team to a 1-0 victory. He scored a total of six goals in the entire 2008/09 season. He was the club's third-best shooter behind Marouane Fellaini and Tim Cahill . Whenever the attacker scored in the league, his team won. In the Fa-Cup, the club qualified for the final. Against Chelsea, Saha scored the first goal for his team after 25 seconds. This was also the fastest goal in an FA Cup final. This replaced Bob Chatt's record from 1895. In the following season, Saha developed into the undisputed number 1 attacker in the first half of the Everton FC attack. Until the half-series he scored ten goals in 17 games. Despite his goals, it was only enough for his team to be in the middle of the field until winter 2009/10 , in the end Everton ended up in 8th place.

Tottenham Hotspur

On January 31, 2012, Tottenham signed Hotspur Saha. In his second game for Tottenham, the attacker scored his first brace in a 5-0 win over Newcastle United .

Sunderland AFC

After his contract in Tottenham expired, Saha moved to AFC Sunderland for the 2012/13 season , where he signed a one-year contract until December 31, 2012.

Lazio Rome

In January 2013, Lazio accepted Saha. He received a contract dated June 30, 2013. On his 35th birthday, he ended his active career as a professional footballer.

National team

With the French U-18 selection , he won the 1997 European Championship. For the French senior team , he played his first game against Belgium on February 18, 2004, in which he also scored a goal. After Djibril Cissé was banned in the run-up to the 2004 European Football Championship , Saha was shortlisted for third place in the storm alongside Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet . He was in the squad for the 2004 European Football Championship, but was only used as a substitute there. He also took part in the 2006 World Cup. He came to three short missions and a total of 31 minutes of playing time. France reached the final but then lost to Italy . In addition to the regular Thierry Henry and the other attackers Sylvain Wiltord and David Trezeguet, Saha was only the fourth striker. He played his last game for the time being on October 11, 2006 in the qualifying game for the European Championship 2008 against the Faroe Islands. In the 5-0 victory, he scored his last goal for the national team. He was called back to the national team for the friendly against Germany on February 29, 2012 in Bremen. In this game he made his comeback in the national team when he came on for Olivier Giroud in the 76th minute .

successes

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Elie Barth: The dream of seeing Henry again. kicker online, February 5, 2004, accessed June 3, 2013 .
  2. ↑ Image: Saha in the Necastle United dress on sporting-heroes.net
  3. ↑ Match statistics Newcastle United - Chelsea 0: 1 (0: 1) on weltfussball.de
  4. ↑ Match statistics Newcastle United - Coventry City 4: 1 (1: 1) on weltfussball.de
  5. ↑ Everton picks up Saha from August 29, 2008 on kicker.de
  6. ↑ Match statistics Hull City - Everton FC 2: 2 (1: 0) on fussballdaten.de
  7. ↑ Match statistics Everton - Fulham 1: 0 (0: 0) on fussballdaten.de
  8. ↑ SAHA SIGNS
  9. ↑ Striker Saha signs ( Memento of the original from August 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.safc.premiumtv.co.uk
  10. ↑ Klose teammate Louis Saha ends his career sportal.de, accessed on August 8, 2013
personal data
SURNAME Saha, Louis
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Saha, Louis Laurent
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH August 8, 1978
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris , France