Florent Malouda

Florent Malouda (born June 13, 1980 in Cayenne, French Guiana) is a France professional football (soccer) player. Malouda plays as a Midfielder Winger for Chelsea F.C] in the Premier League and France national football team.
Malouda is a pacy, attacking left winger who can also play as a second striker or behind the front two.

Club career

Châteauroux and Guingamp

A Street football in his teen years, Malouda gradually developed into an impressive football talent, able to penetrate defences with his technical skills and imaginative play.

Malouda soon attracted the interest of Scout (sport) from France club Berrichonne de Châteauroux and he soon moved to Paris to join the club. Despite the difficulties of living far away from home, Malouda was able to continue his studies and play professional football. Malouda played 57 games for Châteauroux, making his senior debut at the age of 16 in the Ligue 2.

He was then signed by top division side En Avant Guingamp following Châteauroux's inability to secure a Ligue 1 berth. It was in Guingamp where his talent was showcased in French top-flight football. Under the tutelage of coach Guy Lacombe, Malouda demonstrated his tremendous ability and formed a superb assister and finisher combination with then team-mate Didier Drogba. In 92 appearances for Guingamp, Malouda scored 15 goals.

Lyon

Malouda's performances at Guingamp began catching the attention of French giants Olympique Lyonnais who, after claiming their second consecutive title during the Ligue 1 season 2002/2003, decided to sign Malouda. In an outstanding Lyon team containing Juninho Pernambucano, Michael Essien, Gregory Coupet, and Mahamadou Diarra, Malouda established himself on the left side of Lyon's attack, forming great link-ups with all of Lyon's strikers. His performances for Lyon finally earned him a much deserved call up to the French national football team.

The highlights of Malouda's career at Lyon were a man of the match display against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and his 10 goals which led Lyon to their sixth consecutive Ligue 1 title, both during the Ligue 1 season 2006/2007.

He also won the Ligue 1 Player of the Year that season, succeeding team-mate Juninho, Lille OSC Abdul Kader Keïta, Toulouse FC Johan Elmander and RC Lens Seydou Keita (footballer) to the accolade.

Malouda made public his wish to leave Lyon at the end of the Ligue 1 season 2006/2007, with both Chelsea F.C. and Real Madrid showing interest in the winger. On June 29 2007, Malouda told Lyon based newspaper Le Progres that he has his heart set on a move to Chelsea, confirming that Chelsea had lodged a Euro17m bid for him. Malouda later repeated this comment in an interview with the Daily Star. On July 5 2007, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon told Sky Sports that Chelsea had been in discussions with Lyon regarding Malouda's transfer and were hoping to tie up the deal before Chelsea's pre-season tour in the United States of America.

Chelsea

On July 8 2007, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas announced that Lyon had accepted an undisclosed bid, rumoured to be around Euro20m/Pound13.5m, from Chelsea F.C. for Malouda. Chelsea later officially revealed that Malouda would be travelling to London on July 9 for a medical and to discuss personal terms. Malouda had looked set to join Liverpool until the Premiership rivals Chelsea interviened, and the oppourtunity to play for Liverpool faded. At 7pm on the same day, Malouda officially signed a three-year contract with the club. He was handed the number 15 shirt. Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho described Malouda as a mature and proven player who was up to the challenge of adapting to the fast pace of English football, and hinted that Malouda would be fielded in tandem with Dutch winger Arjen Robben.

In his first game for Chelsea, a pre-season exhibition match against Mexico side Club América, Malouda scored the equaliser and set up John Terry for the winning goal as Chelsea went on to win 2-1.

Malouda made his competitive debut for Chelsea against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Community Shield on August 5th, 2007, despite Chelsea going on to lose, he scored in what was an impressive display.

Malouda started against Birmingham City on the left-wing, a position previously adopted by Arjen Robben and Joe Cole. Malouda scored Chelsea's second goal in a 3-2 victory, before being replaced by Steve Sidwell in the 83rd minute.

On August 19, Malouda won a dubious penalty decision from referee Rob Styles in a Premier League game against Liverpool. Replays of the incident indicated Malouda had backed into the Liverpool defender after trying to leave the ball for the unmarked Drogba. The penalty kick was given and Frank Lampard scored.. Referee Rob Styles has since been dropped from Premier League games as a result of this incident and some other contentious decisions during the game.

Following the departure of Arjen Robben to Real Madrid, Malouda is Chelsea's most natural left-sided midfielder and continues to impress.

National team

He made his debut for the French national football team on November 17 2004 in a match against Poland national football team. He then became a regular for his country, earning a call up to the 23-man squad named by coach Raymond Domenech for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. His first goal for France arrived on May 31 2005 against Hungary national football team.

After playing almost throughout France's qualifying campaign for the World Cup, he went on to start and star for France in Germany. He was an important figure in France's success in the World Cup, eventually losing on Penalty kick to Italy national football team in the final. He won a penalty for France in the final which was converted by Zinédine Zidane. To date, Malouda has scored three goals while earning 30 caps for the French national team.

International goals