Stéphane Dalmat

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Stéphane Dalmat
Personal information
Full name	Stéphane Dalmat
Date of birth	16 February 1979
Place of birth	Tours, France
Height	1.8 m
Position	midfielder
Club information
Current club	Bordeaux
Number	18
Youth clubs
	Châteauroux
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (goals)
1997-1998 1998-99 1999-2000 2000 2001-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006 -	Châteauroux Lens Marseille Paris St. Germain Internazionale →Tottenham (on loan) →Toulouse (on loan) Racing Santander Bordeaux	? (?) 3 (3) 1 (1) 19 (1) 48 (3) 22 (3) 19 (1) 12 (0) 0 (0)
* Professional club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of June 2006. ** National team caps and goals correct as of N/A.

Stéphane Dalmat (born 16 February 1979 in Tours) is a professional French footballer.

Dalmat plays in midfield and is a very versatile player who can occupy a variety of positions. He has good technique, good ball control and is pacey, which has often seen managers use him wide on the left of midfield. Despite being left footed, he is comfortable with either foot and also has a good engine and plenty of stamina.

His first professional match was for Châteauroux against Cannes, which was lost 2-1 on 30 August 1997.

He was snapped up by Lens in 1998-99, playing as an attacking central midfielder and earned favourable comparisons to the “wooden” Zinedine Zidane. He quickly moved on to Marseille but, after a dodgy season for the team - where he was often used out of position at left back by a coach he did not get on with - he moved on to Paris Saint-Germain. There he formed a mouth-watering attacking midfield alongside Ali Benarbia and Laurent Robert. A new coach came in and it all got ugly before Dalmat moved on to Internazionale.

Two-and-a-half seasons of frustration at Inter Milan – during which time he never succeeded in securing an extended run in the team – were followed by a loan move to Tottenham Hotspur for the rest of the 2003-04 season, for what looked like an ideal replacement for Christian Ziege. The playmaker’s fortunes did not get much better at White Hart Lane where, despite winning over the Spurs fans with some dynamic performances, he did not win over the confidence of then Coach David Pleat.

His debut for Spurs came on 13 September 2003 as a substitute in a 4-2 defeat at Chelsea. However, in true Tottenham tradition, he was injured for most of the season, but had impressed in a left midfield role before his injury.

Dalmat's performances in the first three months of the 2004/05 season were those of a man desperate to prove a point. To this day many still say that Dalmat wasn't given a fair chance at Spurs where he played outstandingly well in most games he played in but was often very unpredictable on the pitch, even to his own team-mates.

On his arrival at Toulouse in the summer of 2004, the midfielder declared his reasons behind the switch: “Playing for Toulouse will be a beautiful adventure from both a human and sporting point of view.” His hunch that the Municipal Stadium was the ideal place to rebuild his career proved correct. Dalmat was outstanding in the early weeks of his Toulouse spell, starting games on the left flank and striking up a superb understanding with his good friend from his days at Lens, the France forward Daniel Moreira.

Relief at rediscovering the sort of form that attracted Inter three years ago disappeared in October 2004, however, when he fractured a bone in his foot in a friendly match against Nantes. Just days before the injury, Toulouse defender Lucien Aubey had said prophetically: “Some of the players are exhausted because we’ve been playing a match every three days. A guy like Dalmat, who hasn’t played much in recent months, must find it especially hard.”

Dalmat returned to play in the last few months of the season, but Toulouse's bid to seal a European finish had floundered in the absence of Dalmat and Moreira, both of whom missed a large chunk of the season through injury.

On 13 July 2005, Racing de Santander announced the signing of Dalmat, on free transfer, who will move to La Liga under a five-year deal. Santander followed up his capture with that of his brother Wilfried, who has followed Stéphane to El Sardinero, penning a season-long deal.

However, the French midfielder has not had the expected impact at Racing since his switch from Toulouse last summer. Additionally, the brothers sustained criticism from president Manuel Huerta after returning from their Christmas holidays four days late. The attack on their attitudes appeared to have hastened their exit from the La Liga outfit, but neither were sold by the club during the January 2006 transfer window.

On August 14, 2006 Stéphane Dalmat was sent to Bordeaux on a free transfer.

Dalmat has French under 21 caps.

[edit] Honours

• 1999 French League Cup winner (Lens).

[edit] Career

97-98 Châteauroux, 29 games, 1 goal.

98-99 Lens, 25 games, 3 goals. 5 games (Champions League (CL)).

99-00 Marseille, 29 games, 1 goal. 11 games (CL).

00-00 (December) Paris Saint-Germain, 19 games, 1 goal. 6 games (CL).

00-01 Inter Milan, 17 games, 2 goals.

01-02 Inter Milan, 16 games, 1 goal. 7 games, 1 goal (UEFA Cup).

02-03 Inter Milan, 15 games. 9 games (CL).

03-04 (April) Tottenham Hotspur, 22 games, 3 goals.

04-05 Toulouse, 19 games, 1 goal.

05-06 Racing Santander, 13 games.

06-07 Bordeaux, 0 games. (newly acquired)

FC Girondins de Bordeaux - Current Squad
1 Valverde | 3 C. Henrique | 5 Menegazzo | 6 Jurietti | 7 Laslandes | 8 Alonso | 9 Darcheville | 10 Francia | 11 Šmicer | 12 Perea | 13 Jemmali | 14 Micoud | 15 Lavie | 16 Ramé | 18 Faubert | 19 Ducasse | 20 Dalmat | 23 Marange | 24 Mavuba | 25 Cid | 27 Planus | 29 Chamakh | 31 Baysse | 32 Obertan | 34 Bregerie