Geremi Njitap

Geremi Sorele Njitap Fotso (born 20 December, 1978) is a Cameroonian football (soccer) who currently captains Newcastle United F.C. of the FA Premier League after joining from Chelsea F.C. in a three-year contract.

Biography

Early life

Geremi was born in Bafoussam. His father, Samuel, was a former footballer and played internationally for Cameroon national football team in the 1970s. Due to his exploits in the national team, his father was allowed to marry as many times as he wanted and consequently he has five wives. Geremi himself has nineteen siblings.

Career

Geremi was part of the gold medal-winning Cameroon national football team team at the Football at the 2000 Summer Olympics. He also represented Cameroon at the Football World Cup 2002 and the 2004 and 2006 African Nations Cup.

Prior to joining Chelsea in 2003, Geremi played for Cerro Porteño, Gençlerbirliği SK, Real Madrid CF, and Middlesbrough F.C. (on loan). He was Middlesbrough's player of the season for 2002-03 in English football. In 2003, Geremi was brought to Chelsea by then Blues manager Claudio Ranieri after Chelsea agreed a 6 million pound fee with Real Madrid.

Geremi was fairly regular for Chelsea while Ranieri was in charge. But since Ranieri was succeeded by José Mourinho, Geremi had struggled to earn a place in the Chelsea first-team due to the exceptional strength in depth of Chelsea's squad. Despite this, he scored twice in the 2005-06 in English football Premiership season, against both Sunderland and Liverpool.

Although he began his career as a right-winger, Geremi figured in Chelsea manager José Mourinho's plans as the back-up to Paulo Ferreira at right-back.

At the Adidas and Chelsea "Blue Day Out" event for Fans at the Stamford Bridge Stadium, Geremi had one of the biggest cheers as he made his entrance to the Chelsea Stadium - in an AA Van, after his car had broken down on the journey.

Geremi signed for Newcastle United F.C. on the 6 July 2007. He was appointed club captain for the 2007-08 season. He made his debut for the club on August 11 2007 against Bolton Wanderers F.C.. In August 2007 he applied for United Kingdom citizenship, having lived in the country for five years.