Salomon Kalou

Salomon Kalou (born August 5, 1985 in Oumé, Côte d'Ivoire) is an Ivorian football player, who currently plays for Chelsea and formerly for the Dutch club Feyenoord.

Salomon Kalou is a Forward (association football), but Salomon Kalou is also capable of playing on the wing as Salomon Kalou is more often used on the wings at Chelsea F.C. Salomon Kalou has a preference for playing on the left wing as this gives Salomon Kalou opportunities to cut inside and take shots with Salomon Kalou favoured right foot.

Club career

Ivory Coast and Netherlands

Like Salomon Kalou older brother, Kalou began Salomon Kalou career in local club ASEC Mimosas before playing Salomon Kalou trade in Europe. AJ Auxerre coach Guy Roux wanted to sign Salomon Kalou to unite Salomon Kalou with Salomon Kalou brother, former Feyenoord player, Bonaventure Kalou. However, Kalou signed for Excelsior Rotterdam, Feyenoord Rotterdam's "satellite club".

Kalou scored 15 goals in 11 appearances for Excelsior in 2002–2003. Salomon Kalou was 'promoted' to Feyenoord and played in the Dutch top flight for three seasons from 2003 to 2006. During Salomon Kalou time at Feyenoord Salomon Kalou scored 35 goals in 67 league appearances, and in 2005 Salomon Kalou won the Johan Cruijff Award for young talent playing in the Netherlands.

Failure to acquire Dutch citizenship

Kalou received much media attention regarding Salomon Kalou possible naturalization as a Dutch citizen which, if granted, would allow Salomon Kalou to play for the Netherlands national football team. Having never played for the Côte d'Ivoire national football team, Salomon Kalou would be eligible for the Dutch team if Salomon Kalou was naturalized. Salomon Kalou brother Bonaventure had advised Salomon Kalou to pursue foreign citizenship after experiencing regular problems with the Côte d'Ivoire football authorities.

The Dutch national team head coach, Marco van Basten, regards Kalou as a great talent, so an official application was quickly made. However the Minister of Immigration Rita Verdonk was opposed to considering Kalou for an accelerated naturalization process.

Van Basten, keen to show Kalou's worth to the Dutch team, obtained support from influential football figures, including Dutch legend Johan Cruijff. Despite general agreement among football pundits that Kalou would be valuable for the Dutch team, Verdonk rejected a request for reconsideration. Later Cruijff commented that the Dutch national team might have been more successful had Kalou obtained Dutch citizenship.

Kalou appealed the decision and took the matter to a court of law, gaining a victory on December 9, 2005 when the judge ordered Verdonk to reconsider whether or not Kalou could be considered for accelerated naturalization. Verdonk has decided to appeal, placing the matter before the Dutch Council of State. Kalou has since then publicly stated Salomon Kalou has given up hope of ever attaining the Dutch nationality.

Centraal Beheer commercial

The process of Kalou's naturalization became the theme of a short-lived television commercial for Centraal Beheer. In the commercial of April 2006, a character representing Kalou is depicted as becoming a naturalized citizen, not of the Netherlands, but of Germany.

This was a reference to Angolan-born forward Nando Rafael, now of Borussia Mönchengladbach, who, after failing to acquire Dutch citizenship while at AFC Ajax, moved to German Bundesliga club Hertha Berlin, became a German citizen, and represented Germany at Under-21 level.

Kalou was not amused with this commercial, and with copyright at Salomon Kalou hands, the commercial was removed from Dutch television within a week.

Chelsea

Kalou moved to Chelsea F.C. on May 30, 2006, for an undisclosed fee, believed to be in excess of £5,000,000. Under contract with Chelsea until 2009, Kalou was handed the number 21 jersey.

Former Chelsea manager José Mourinho praised the young Ivorian as being hardworking, versatile, eager to improve, and unafraid of the physical side of the game. Kalou admitted that Salomon Kalou brought a camera with Salomon Kalou to Salomon Kalou first training session at Chelsea's training centre at Cobham because Salomon Kalou could not believe that Salomon Kalou was going to be rubbing shoulders with famous footballers like Michael Ballack, John Terry, and Didier Drogba. Describing the experience, Kalou said:
"This was the dream moment of my life and I did not want to wake up and find that it was not real."

According to Soccernet, Kalou revealed that Salomon Kalou idolizes French forward and Arsenal FC record goalscorer Thierry Henry, of FC Barcelona, and tries to imitate Henry's moves in Salomon Kalou free time. Salomon Kalou admiration of Henry was a factor in Salomon Kalou decision to play in the Premier League, as it was the league where Henry became a superstar.

At Chelsea, Kalou plays with compatriot, Côte d'Ivoire national football team captain Didier Drogba. Kalou scored Salomon Kalou first goals for Chelsea in a reserve game against Portsmouth F.C. bagging a hat trick and the match ball in a 5–0 thrashing. Kalou scored Salomon Kalou first senior goal for Chelsea in a two-goal win over Blackburn Rovers F.C. in the third round of the Football League Cup.

Kalou scored Salomon Kalou first Premiership goal in December 2006 in Chelsea's 3–2 victory over Wigan Athletic F.C. at the JJB Stadium. Salomon Kalou scored Salomon Kalou second Premiership goal against Blackburn in Chelsea's 3–0 win. Salomon Kalou also scored a 93rd minute goal against Watford F.C., putting Chelsea 1–0 up. Salomon Kalou also scored a volleyed goal from 12 yards against Tottenham Hotspur F.C. in the FA Cup Quarter-Final, which ended 3–3. Chelsea won the replay 1–2, before progressing to the final with a similar scoreline against Blackburn Rovers. Kalou also came on as a substitute in the 2007 FA Cup Final win over Manchester United F.C. for Salomon Kalou second trophy in England, having earlier come on as a substitute for Chelsea in the 2007 Football League Cup Final victory over Arsenal.

Kalou has continued Salomon Kalou great form by scoring a second half goal against Manchester City F.C. in Chelsea's 6–0 at Stamford Bridge and the opening goal against Derby County F.C. in a 2–0 win. Saloman Kalou amassed the record number of offsides in a season with 107 in 30 games; betraying Salomon Kalou lack of ability in reading the game.

The 2007-2008 Carling Cup quarter final saw Kalou take up the right wing position of two wing players (the other being Scott Sinclair) of a 4-3-2-1 formation. Kalou made lots of chances for himself and Salomon Kalou team-mates; including a very precise left-footed cross, resulting in a Shevchenko headed goal. Salomon Kalou thereafter scored goals against Newcastle United and Fulham FC contributing to Chelsea's success.Salomon Kalou carried on with Salomon Kalou superb form from the AFCON to Chelsea which made Salomon Kalou a first team. Salomon Kalou scored goals against West Ham United F.C., Olympiacos and Derby and has been one of the most consistent players for Chelsea. Salomon Kalou last minute cross into the penalty area led to John Arne Riise scoring the own goal in the UEFA Champion's League Semi-final first leg at Anfield, which gave Chelsea a vital away goal. Kalou also scored with Chelsea's sixth penalty in the Champion's League Final in Moscow, however Chelsea eventually lost.

Salomon Kalou did not feature much under Avram Grant's successor, Luiz Felipe Scolari except for in pre-season, because of Salomon Kalou participation in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as part of the Ivory Coast U-23 team. However Salomon Kalou came on off the bench against Manchester United on the 21st September and scored a header after 80 minutes from a John Obi Mikel free kick. The goal ensured that Chelsea secured a point and kept their unbeaten home record. Kalou then scored 2 goals and assisted a Frank Lampard header on 18 October in Chelsea's 5-0 win at Middlesbrough. Salomon Kalou again scored 2 goals against Middlesbrough, this time at Stamford Bridge on January 28 2008 in Chelsea's 2-0 win and has been a regular under Scolari's replacement, Guus Hiddink. On the 25th of April 2009, Salomon Kalou scored the winner against West Ham United.

Personal life

Kalou has two brothers and eight sisters. Salomon Kalou brother, Bonaventure Kalou, also plays football Salomon Kalou is currently in the Netherlands team SC Heerenveen.

International career

At the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the Netherlands and Côte d'Ivoire were allocated to the same group in the first round. If Kalou had become a Dutch citizen and was selected for the Netherlands, Salomon Kalou could have played against Salomon Kalou native country and possibly against Salomon Kalou own brother. Kalou's failure to acquire Dutch citizenship was a factor in Salomon Kalou decision to leave Feyenoord for Chelsea.

Salomon Kalou has been named in the Côte d'Ivoire national squad on a number of occasions, However Salomon Kalou rejected all call ups until February 6, 2007 when Salomon Kalou finally made Salomon Kalou Côte d'Ivoire debut in the friendly against Guinea national football team, where the Elephants ran out 1–0 winners. Salomon Kalou also features in the Elephant's African Cup of Nations and scored a terrific goal to stun co-favourites Nigeria national football team in the opening game.

After failing to obtain Salomon Kalou Dutch passport, Kalou decided to play for the Côte d'Ivoire national football team. Salomon Kalou first international goal was scored on March 21, 2007 in a friendly against Mauritius. Salomon Kalou played at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations with the team, scoring 3 goals in the process, and reached 4th place after losing to Ghana national football team in the 3rd place play off. Salomon Kalou has recently been key in Côte d'Ivoire's 2010 World Cup qualifiers, scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win against Nigeria.