Kieran Mckenna

Steed Malbranque (born January 6 1980 in Mouscron, Belgium) is a Belgium-born France football (soccer), currently playing for Tottenham Hotspur F.C..

Lyon

He was a trainee at Olympique Lyonnais between the years of 1995-97 during which time he won the Under-15 championship twice, the Under-17 Cup and the reserve team championship. He also captained the French Under-18 side.

He made his professional debut for the club in a 1-1 draw against Montpellier HSC on February 21 1998 aged 18. He went on to play a total of 96 games for the club which included 12 appearances and 2 goals in the UEFA Champions League and 7 appearances in the UEFA Cup.

During his time at the club there was a chance to join Arsenal but he rejected the move as he felt he wasn't ready to play in the Premiership.

Fulham

He eventually made his move to the Premiership in 2001 joining Fulham Football Club for a fee believed to be £4.5million making his debut in a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford (football) against Manchester United F.C and went on to score 10 goals in his first season.

He became a firm favourite during his 5 years at the club playing a total of 211 games and scoring 44 goals including 6 appearances and 3 goals in Fulham Football Club's short-lived UEFA Cup 2002-03 campaign during the 2002-03 season. He was the top scorer during the 2002-03 season with 13 goals that helped save Fulham from relegation and was offered the chance to play for Belgium national football team towards the end of the campaign, having not represented the full France side, however he turned it down with the hope that he would eventually break into the full French squad.

On May 13, 2006, after extensive contract talks with the club failed, Malbranque was placed on the transfer list at Fulham Football Club after he declared his intentions to leave at the end of his contract. There was rumoured interest from Reading F.C., Middlesbrough F.C., West Ham United F.C., Manchester City F.C., Everton F.C. and Newcastle United F.C. but he opted to sign for Tottenham Hotspur F.C. on the deadline day of the transfer window (August 31 2006) for a fee believed to be £2million despite an injury that would keep him out for approximately 10 weeks.

Tottenham

Malbranque made his debut for Tottenham Hotspur F.C. almost ten weeks after signing for the club on November 8 2006 at White Hart Lane playing 63 minutes in a English League Cup 3-1 victory over Port Vale F.C.. He scored his first goal for Spurs in an emphatic 5-1 victory over Charlton Athletic at White Hart Lane on December 9 2006.

Steed has struggled to established himself as a fan's favourite as although the majority of his appearances for the club on the left wing, he is rarely found on there as he wanders inside, due to a lack of an adequate left foot. This weakness became apparent in the second leg of Spurs' UEFA cup tie against Sevilla, where he sliced a left footed clearance into his own net.

International career

Although born in Mouscron, across the Belgian border, he was called up to the France national under-21 football team and was part of the squad of Les Bleuets that lost to Czech Republic national under-21 football team in the final of the 2002 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.

Malbranque was called into the senior France squad in February 2004 but did not make an appearance during any matches.

Trivia

- Named after the character of John Steed from the British television series 'The Avengers (TV series)'.
- Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair listed Malbranque as a "fantastic player" alongside Arjan de Zeeuw and Teddy Sheringham during an appearance on the BBC's Football Focus programme.
- Known for having his shirt untucked throughout games which make him look shorter than he is and his shirts to appear a few sizes too big.
- Voted the 45th greatest foreign player to ever play in the English Premiership in a poll of 1.5 million English football fans.
- Scored Tottenham's 150th goal in European competition with his goal in the second leg of the UEFA Cup 2006-07 last 16 vs Sporting Braga on March 14 2007 at White Hart Lane.