Florent Malouda, 15# Midfielder
Growing up in the city of Cayenne, French Guiana, Malouda moved to the French Ligue 2 club Chateauroux in 1996 at the age of 15, joining as a trainee. After playing in the first team for 2 years, he climbed divisions and signed for Ligue 1 club Guingamp at the turn of the millennium, where he was later joined by future Chelsea teammate Didier Drogba. He formed a deadly partnership with the big Ivorian during the 2002-03 season, scoring goals as well as creating goals for others around him. He finished the season with 10 goals, bringing him to the attention of French heavyweights, Olympique Lyonnais.

This was when Malouda really came on to the big stage, joining the reigning French champions, and linking up with the players of the pedigree of Juninho Pernambucano, Gregory Coupet, Mahamadou Diarra and another future Chelsea teammate and fellow new arrival, Michael Essien. Having a taste of UEFA Champions League football for the first time, Malouda established himself as an important fixture of the Lyon lineup, slowly making the left midfield/wing position his own, and tasting instant success by winning the Ligue 1 title in his debut season.

His good performances continued into the next season, earning him a call-up to the French national team in the November of 2004 and leading to his debut against Poland. His outstanding season at Lyon came in 2006-07, when he scored 10 league goals to help his team to their 6 consecutive league title, Malouda’s fourth. Consistent domestic performances coupled with a good Champions League showing that season alerted the bigger European clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool and Real Madrid to his ability and the London Blues won the race for his signature, signing the then 27 year old for an undisclosed fee on a 3 year contract.

Upon his arrival, Malouda was handed the number 15 shirt. Making a goalscoring competitive debut in the Community Shield against Manchester United, ‘Flo’ still ended up on the losing side as Man Utd won on penalties after a 1-1 draw. He scored on his league debut as well, this time against Birmingham, as Chelsea made a winning start to the 2007-08 season. He continued his knack of ‘firsts’ with a goal on his Champions League debut for Chelsea against Schalke 04. Apart from the early promise however, his debut Chelsea season ended the season 2nd behind Manchester United in the league as well as losing out to the same opposition in the season’s Champions League final, in addition to losing to local rivals Tottenham in the Carling Cup final.

He was a fixture in the French side that performed miserably at the Euro 2008 campaign, but showed promise again when returning for the new season, scoring goals against Bordeaux, Arsenal and Newcastle among others, but again he was generally deemed to not have lived up to his potential. A huge turnaround in
fortune came with the arrival of Carlo Ancelotti as Chelsea manager in the summer of 2009. The manager showed faith in his talented if inconsistent midfielder, and the rewards followed as Malouda established himself as a key member of the title chasing Chelsea squad. Impressive performances comprised of direct running,strong hold up play, dribbles, killer passes, sumptuous crosses and spectacular goals finally endeared him to the Chelsea faithful. Finishing the season with 15 goals in all competitions, he tasted Premier League glory for the first time as Chelsea broke Man Utd’s 3 year old grip on the title, also adding a third FA Cup in 4 years to round off the most successful season in the club’s 105 year history.

Having finally firmly established himself in the Chelsea team, fans can look forward to Flo giving his 100% towards maintaining Chelsea’s domestic supremacy and helping the club ease it’s well publicized European hurt.

Written By Madmax201010    Discussion Topic