Emmanuel Eboué

Emmanuel Eboué (born June 4, 1983 in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire) is an Ivorian football (soccer) player who currently plays for Arsenal F.C.. He has spent most of his career to date playing as a right fullback (football), but has recently been used as a right Winger (football).

Playing career

ASEC Mimosas

Eboue is a graduate of Jean-Marc Guillou's football academy in Abidjan which was attached to ASEC Mimosas. Eboue moved with a large number of the graduates to K.S.K. Beveren in September 2002. The Belgium employment law allowed less experienced players to play football there while other countries required non-EU players to have International experience.

KSK Beveren

Eboue played for three seasons at Beveren which had a joint relationship with Arsenal F.C. to develop players. In December 2004 he and Marco Ne were given a trial at Highbury. As a result he was signed by Arsenal on January 1, 2005, on a four-year contract for a fee of £1.54 million. The move allowed him to join fellow Côte d'Ivoire national football team international Kolo Touré at Highbury.

Arsenal

His debut came only days after signing from Beveren, in the FA Cup against Stoke City F.C.. Although he was not initially a first team regular, making just one FA Premier League appearance, as a substitute, in 2004-05 in English football, Eboué's was regularly in Arsenal's reserve team that season.

In 2005-06 in English football Eboué made his break into the Arsenal side. He started the season mainly as a reserve player, though he scored his first goal for Arsenal in the club's 3-0 Football League Cup Third Round victory at Sunderland A.F.C., on October 25, 2005. Despite leaving for the African Cup of Nations in January 2006 he was immediately sent into action on his return; he made his first career Premiership start at right back against Liverpool F.C. at Anfield, replacing the injured Lauren Etame Mayer. With Lauren injured for the rest of the season, Eboué held his place for the remainder of Arsenal's 2005-06 campaign.

Eboué's run in the Arsenal side included matches in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase against Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal CF. Impressed with the way the Ivorian adapted to the increased pace of the Premiership and pressure of the Champions League, Arséne Wenger even compared Eboué to the legendary Brazilian winger Garrincha after an energetic performance in the April 1 2006 game against Aston Villa F.C..

Eboué continued in the starting line-up for Arsenal in the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final at the Stade de France. He performed solidly, but attracted criticism (including a public denouncement from Wenger) for his dive, on the edge of the F.C. Barcelona penalty area under an innocuous challenge, as he sought to counter-attack — with Arsenal having been reduced to 10 men by the sending-off of goalkeeper Jens Lehmann. The resulting free kick ended up in an Arsenal opening goal, scored by team-mate Sol Campbell. The Londoners' luck did not hold out and Barcelona scored twice through Samuel Eto'o and later Juliano Belletti in the last fifteen minutes to win the game 2-1.

Eboué started the 2006-07 in English football, and was awarded the Arsenal Player of the Month award for September. However, he was injured in an international and spent the whole of the month of October out with injury. He made his first team return as a substitute in the 1-0 defeat by West Ham United on November 5, and started the League Cup win over Everton F.C. later that same week. He scored his second Arsenal goal in their 3-1 Champions League victory over Hamburger SV on 21 November 2006. Persistent ankle problems have plagued him throughout December 2006 and January 2007. He attempted to make many comebacks, mostly against high profile teams such as Liverpool, in the FA 3rd Round and Manchester United, but he was unable to come through them unscathed. Wenger decided to wait until there was no chance that there would be a recurrence of the injury, and he came off the bench for Armand Traore in the League Cup Final. He made his mark in this for all the wrong reasons, striking Chelsea defender Wayne Bridge in the fight caused by John Obi Mikel and aggravated by Frank Lampard. Although the referee and his assistants missed the incident, he was banned for three matches by the FA. He started the match against Blackburn in the FA cup 5th Round Replay, only for his ankle to get injured again from a studs-up challenge from Blackburn winger Morten Gamst Pedersen, which the referee also missed.

From the start of the 2007-08 season, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has stated his intention to move Eboue into a role on the right wing, following the signing of Bakary Sagna. This will allow Emmanuel to showcase his attacking talents without leaving Arsenal's defence exposed, and allowing English youngster Justin Hoyte to compete with Sagna for the right back role.

On TV show Soccer AM, team-mate Kolo Toure described Eboue as the "funniest man at Arsenal" and "he's so funny he makes me laugh on the pitch".

International career

Eboué earned his full cap (sport) against Sudan national football team in September 2004.
In early 2006 he performed very well at the African Cup of Nations as the Ivory Coast's first-choice right-back. The Ivory Coast eventually lost in the Final on penalties to the hosts Egypt.

Eboué was selected for the Ivory Coast squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup Finals in Germany. He played the full 270 minutes of his nation's campaign, successive 2-1 defeats by Argentina National Football Team and the Netherlands National Football Team followed by a 3-2 victory over Serbia & Montenegro national football team which came too late to save Ivory Coast from 1st round elimination. Although his country lost, personally he obtained praise from critics.

Style of play

Eboué is known for his frequent attacking forays into the opponent's half. His pace, crossing and stamina are his main assets. In the 2006-07 season, Eboué contributed several assists via crosses from the flanks. His pace enables him to keep up with quick wingers like Cristiano Ronaldo or go up and attack and back to defend very effectively. His stamina enables him to run up and down the whole game and enables him to cover a large amount of ground every game.

Personal life

Eboué married his Belgian girlfriend before he joined Arsenal.

Club career statistics

(- FA Cup, Football League Cup and FA Community Shield)

Honours

International

- African Cup of Nations: runner-up 2006

Arsenal

- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2006