Name:
Florent Malouda
Nationality: French
Date of
Birth: 13/06/1980
Height:
181 cm
Weight:
73.0 kg
Previous Clubs: Lyon, Guingamp
Position: Midfielder
Chelsea career
Signed on a three-year contract in the summer of
2007, an undisclosed fee was paid to Lyon for the then 27-year-old French
international winger who was one of Jose Mourinho's final purchases for the
club.
The first year started brightly with an
excellently-taken Community Shield goal at Wembley and another strike in the
first league game. He won a controversially-awarded penalty for an important
point at Anfield and opened his Champions League account at home to Schalke.
However, a two-month absence in mid-winter due to
a persistent knee injury took its toll on Florent's form, although he did hit
one of the passes of the season for Joe Cole's winner at Goodison Park in the
Carling Cup semi-final.
Following a grim FA Cup exit at Barnsley there
was a month in the wilderness but Avram Grant issued a recall for the Champions
League quarter-finals, the then manager frequently choosing the more cautious
Malouda rather than Salomon Kalou in European away games. The policy was
retained in the Final in Moscow where Florent played the first 92 minutes.
He completed his first Chelsea campaign with four
goals from 29 starts and nine sub appearances, before Luiz Felipe Scolari
arrived in the summer of 2008 announcing he wanted to see the same Malouda at
Chelsea he had seen at Lyon, with direct running and a stronger eye for goal.
The winger responded with a run of four goals in
10 games before an injury setback at the end of November kept him out until
Boxing Day. With his natural left-footedness, Malouda provided balance and
width to an emerging three-pronged attack with his friend from earlier playing
days in France, Didier Drogba, and Nicolas Anelka.
Under Guus Hiddink, Malouda started to show a
consistency to his game that had been missing. Assists, running and goals began
to become regular facets as he played a key role in FA Cup semi-final success
over Arsenal, while in the Champions League semi-final he denied Lionel Messi
the space he needed in the Camp Nou to hurt the Blues in Ashley Cole's absence.
Unfortunately Chelsea lost out in the second leg in controversial fashion.
Back at Wembley it was Florent's cross that set
up Drogba's equaliser in the 2009 FA Cup Final against Everton and he and
Ashley Cole spent the first half tormenting Tony Hibbert to the degree that the
right-back was taken off at the interval. Florent was denied his own Wembley
goal on a victorious day when a tremendous drive cannoned back off the
crossbar.
He continued to go from strength to strength in
2009/10, building on his solid finish to the previous campaign.
The Frenchman made Carlo Ancelotti's early
selections and by the end of the season he had cemented his place in the
starting line-up. He was instrumental in a number of historic wins and netted
15 goals throughout an industrious campaign.
That was an important measurement of his
abilities but just as vital were the assists. Malouda helped set up 12 of
Chelsea's League goals, including his cross which Joe Cole back-heeled over the
line against Manchester United as we beat out title rivals 2-1 at Old Trafford.
He was a versatile member of the team, playing as
a midfielder rather than a wide man in a 4-3-3 towards the season's end and he
even moved back into the left-back position away against Inter Milan when both
Ashley Cole and Yury Zhirkov were unavailable.
He ended the 2009/10 season with another FA Cup
Final appearance and a winners' medal to add the Premier League one handed out
a week earlier. He was Chelsea Players' Player of the Year.
Both his and the team's form were carried over to
the commencement of 2010/11 and a couple of months in, Florent was the Premier
League's top scorer. However as important players were lost to injury and
illness, and results declined as winter set in, his form suffered too and he
scored just one league goal in three months.
Although the season ultimately ended trophyless,
Florent rediscovered his influence towards to the end and finished the team's
league top scorer with a career-best 13 goals and a good total of assists too.
The 2011-12 season has seen the Frenchman still
very much involved in first-team affairs, with over 30 appearances, although
perhaps more frustrating was his limited number of league starts. He started
the season very much involved in Andre Villas-Boas's side, scoring a late
winner in our first home match against West Brom, but with the Portuguese
departed and Roberto Di Matteo in charge, the latter half of the campaign saw
his involvement restricted with the Italian opting to use Salomon Kalou more
regularly.
He scored our final goal in a 6-1 drubbing of
Queens Park Rangers at the Bridge in April, while coming off the bench to
replace Ryan Bertrand in the Champions League Final. In betwen he was a late
substitute in our FA Cup Final win over Liverpool.
Pre-Chelsea
Lyon was Florent's third club. He began his
career in Paris with lower league Châteauroux where he played two seasons
before moving up the ladder to Guingamp.
In Brittany he teamed up with Didier Drogba and
his impressive form over three seasons attracted the attention of Lyon.
Arriving at his new club the same season as
Michael Essien, the two shared in championship success, Florent staying at the
Stade Gerland long enough to win a hat-trick of league titles while starring in
Champions League displays.
International
Florent quickly became a regular for France after
making his debut against Poland in November 2004. He was a prominent member of
the French team that reached the final of the 2006 World Cup, winning the
penalty that Zinedine Zidane converted to open the scoring in a match that they
would eventually lose on penalties.
He remained a fixture in and around the French
XI, and was a key part of the Euro 2008 qualification campaign although,
similar to many of his compatriots, he endured a disappointing tournament, losing
his place for the final group game as the team ended bottom.
He netted the only goal in France's dismal 2010
World Cup campaign, pulling a goal back against South Africa to make it 1-2. In
September 2010 he stood in as captain against Belarus due to Patrice Evra's
five-game suspension that came out of summer tournament.
Malouda was named in France's 23-man squad to
take part at Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine, though he struggled to make a
significant impact as his side were eliminated by eventual winners Spain in the
quarter-finals.
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