Mikaël Samy Silvestre (born 9 August 1977 in Chambray-lès-Tours) is a French footballer, playing as a defender. He currently plays for Arsenal and the France national team.
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mikaël Samy Silvestre | ||
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) | ||
| Position(s) | Centre back, left back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Arsenal | ||
| Number | 18 | ||
| ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 11:19, 20 August 2008 (UTC) | |||
Club career
Early career
Silvestre began his career with the French club Rennes in the 1995/96 season. His time at the club helped build his reputation, and in the 1997/98 season was signed by Internazionale. He made 18 league appearances for Inter, as well as 6 European Cup games. Silvestre signed for Manchester United on September 10, 1999 for £3.5 million.
Silvestre is adept as both a centre-back and a left full-back, though he has stated that he prefers playing in the centre.[1] Silvestre's most positive attribute is his pace, and he often sets up scoring opportunities. He is also noted for his crossing and tackling abilities.
Manchester United
He made his debut against Liverpool at Anfield in 1999. His first season at Manchester United was not exceptional replacing an injured Ronny Johnsen in the centre with Jaap Stam; he appeared to struggle initially to adapt to the English league. By the 2001/2002 season, however, Silvestre had established himself in defence ahead of the veteran Denis Irwin, and was proving to be adept both in defence and getting forward. He set up numerous goals for Ruud van Nistelrooy, notably away to Deportivo de La Coruña in a 2–0 towards the end of the season. There was criticism put his way after the Bayer 04 Leverkusen game where he was largely blamed for the late equaliser in the 1–1 draw, but this typified Manchester United's season as a whole, and he was one of their better performers.
During the next season he carried on initially where he left off at the left of Manchester United's back four, but following injury to Rio Ferdinand and the poor performance of an aging Laurent Blanc, he was switched to his favoured position of central defence. This first happened at half-time in the UEFA Champions League match away in Basel when the team were 1–0 down and struggling with a young John O'Shea looking shaky at the heart of the defence. Silvestre and O'Shea were switched for the second half and the team immediately looked more solid defensively. From this point Silvestre forged a successful partnership mid-season with Wes Brown at the heart of the defence until Ferdinand's return, looking calm and assured, using his pace to good effect, whilst continuing to provide goals with his accurate diagonal balls.
He continued in this role the following season where he and Ferdinand excelled as a pair and after half a season were being touted as the best central defensive pairing the club had seen since Steve Bruce and Gary Pallister.[citation needed] However, this was cut short following Ferdinand's eight month ban for missing a drug test. In the latter half of this season when being paired with an unfit Wes Brown, Manchester United's defence proved to be rather less secure and both Brown and Silvestre were at fault for numerous goals and despite winning the FA Cup with a 3–0 victory over Millwall, this uncertainty at the heart of the defence was to continue into the start of the 2004–05 season.
Competition for places grew significantly during the January transfer window in 2006 with the signings of Nemanja Vidić and Patrice Evra. Although both struggled to adapt initially, both have since gone on to establish themselves as firm fan favourites and key members of the Manchester United squad. Following the partnership of Vidić and Ferdinand at the heart of the defence, and Evra's holding of the left-back position, Silvestre has found it more difficult to secure a place in the Manchester United starting line-up. However, at the end of 2005–06 he did show good form, particularly in the 2-0 victory over Arsenal in the left-back role where he delivered an excellent cross for Wayne Rooney to score the opening goal of the match from. He admits that he was given the option to leave during the January transfer window during 2006, with an opportunity to join former Liverpool manager Gérard Houllier at Lyon. He did however decide to stay and fight for his place at United.
On August 11, 2006, his loyalty to the club was rewarded with a new contract extending his stay at the club until at least 2009. Alex Ferguson commented that: "Mikael has been an important member of the squad for seven years now. His experience at the Club will help the younger players as they develop and he has a central role to play in the first team."
He started the 2006-07 season against Watford, scoring a goal, his first away goal for United, to give United the lead, and then 15 minutes later making a defensive error to aid their equaliser. He was starting to reassert himself in the left-back role when he broke a metatarsal in a 1-0 defeat to Arsenal. After recovering and playing several games, he dislocated his shoulder in a Champions League win against Lille OSC, meaning he was unable to play for the rest of the season. [1]. He did however win his fourth Premier League winners medal that season as United won the league for the first time since 2003.
Silvestre revealed that in the summer of 2007 he turned down the opportunity to sign for Newcastle United, because he refused to play in the same side as Joey Barton (who attacked Silvestre's close friend Ousmane Dabo).[2]
With Gabriel Heinze moving to Real Madrid, Silvestre was set to battle Evra for the starting left back spot in the first eleven at Manchester United in the 2007–08 season. On September 15, however, Silvestre was stretchered off with knee ligament damage. On 16 September, it was revealed that Silvestre had been ruled out for the rest of the season. On September 24, Ferguson revealed that: "I'm sure Mikael will be back in March," he also said. "We had him operated on in France last week and it all went well. It was pleasing to see there was no further damage other than the cruciate ligament. That's a big bonus because sometimes there can be cartilage problems that also come along."
On 20 March, Silvestre made his comeback in the Manchester United reserves in a 4-1 win over Manchester City.[3][4]
On 9 April, 2008, Silvestre made his first start after 7 months in a Champions League quarter-final match versus A.S. Roma.[5]
Arsenal
A transfer to Bordeaux was mooted in the summer of 2008. However, it is believed that Silvestre turned the transfer down to see out the remaining year of his contract, and potentially receive a testimonial match at the end of the 2008–09 season.[6] On 19 August 2008, it was suggested that Silvestre had backed out of a move to Manchester City, after hearing that Arsenal were interested in signing him.[7]
The transfer to Arsenal was completed for an undisclosed fee on 20 August 2008, with Silvestre signing a two-year contract. The transfer makes Silvestre the first player to transfer directly between Manchester United and Arsenal since Viv Anderson in 1987. He will wear the number 18 shirt, last worn by Pascal Cygan.[8]
International career
He earned his first senior cap for France on February 27 2001 in a friendly against Germany that ended in a 1-0 win. He won the Confederations Cup both in 2001 and 2003 with France. However, he received criticism for his performance in Euro 2004, where he gave away penalties to both England and Croatia, before France were knocked out by Greece in the quarter-finals. Previously he was a member of French junior team at the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. He also played one game in the French squad that made the 2006 FIFA World Cup final.
Personal
He is married to Séverine and has a daughter named Cléo.[9]
Honours
Manchester United
- UEFA Champions League
- Winner (1): 2008
- Intercontinental Cup
- Winner (1): 1999
References
- ^ BBC SPORT | Football | My Club | Man Utd | Silvestre sweet on prospects
- ^ "Silvestre turned down Newcastle to avoid Barton". Daily Mail. 2007-08-12. Retrieved 2007-07-11.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Neville steps up comeback". Sky Sports. 2008-03-20. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ^ Steve Bartram (2008-03-20). "Reserves: United 4 City 1". ManUtd.com. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ^ Gemma Thompson (2008-04-09). "Report: United 1 Roma 0". ManUtd.com. Retrieved 2008-07-04.
- ^ Silvestre set to stay
- ^ "Arsenal hijack Silvestre move". The Independent. 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Arsenal sign Man Utd's Silvestre". BBC Sport. 2008-08-20. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ "Manchester United: The players". The Guardian. 2008-05-20. Retrieved 2008-08-20.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help)
External links
- Mikaël Silvestre – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Mikaël Silvestre at Soccerbase