Claude Makélélé

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Claude Makélélé
Personal information
Date of birth February 18, 1973 (age 34)
Place of birth    Kinshasa, Zaire (Now Congo)
Height 1.7 m (5 ft 7 in)
Nickname Maka
Playing position Defensive midfielder
Club information
Current club Chelsea
Number 4
Youth clubs
Stade Brestois
Senior clubs1
Years Club App (Gls)*
1992–1997
1997–1998
1998–2000
2000–2003
2003–present		 Nantes
Olympique de Marseille
Celta Vigo
Real Madrid
Chelsea		 169 (9)
032 (2)
070 (3)
126 (0)
123 (2)   
National team2
1995–present France 053 (0)

1 Senior club appearances and goals
counted for the domestic league only and
correct as of 20 March 2007 (UTC).
2 National team caps and goals correct
as of 12:00, 11 October 2006 (UTC).
* Appearances (Goals)

Claude Makélélé (born February 18, 1973 in Kinshasa, Zaire) is a French international football player, who currently plays defensive midfield for Chelsea in the English Premiership. He is married to the French supermodel Noémie Lenoir with whom he has three sons named Kelyan, Hayden and Sam.

Prior to joining Chelsea, Makélélé played for Nantes (1992-97), Olympique de Marseille (1997-98), Celta Vigo (1998-2000), and Real Madrid (2000-03). Chelsea purchased him for £16.6 million from the Spanish giants. He is considered to play "The Makélélé Role", by slowing down the tempo of the game.

Contents

[edit] Early career

Claude Makélélé moved to Savigny-le-Temple, a suburb of Paris in Seine-et-Marne, in 1977, when he was four years old. His father was also a football player. He represented the Congo DR, and ended his career in the Belgian first division.

Makélélé had never left Savigny-le-Temple until the age of 16, when he joined the training centre of Brest-Armorique in Brittany. According to him, it wasn't easy to adapt to the new life in Brest. The training academy life was tough, especially as it was the first time he was far from his family.

According to him, he worked very hard in Brest, but it was in Nantes where he discovered the real pleasure of playing. Makélélé was recruited by FC Nantes Atlantique in December 1991, when he was still 18 years old. Robert Budzinski, the Sport director from Nantes confessed that once he had discovered Makélélé in Brest, he was sure he would become the new Emmanuel Petit.

At the beginning of the 1992-93 season, Claude Makélélé was already in the Nantes A-team, in the French first division. He played at Nantes for five seasons, winning the French Championship in 1995 and helped the club to semifinal of European Cup the following season. Makélélé was a fairly regular scorer for Nantes, and scored 6 goals for Nantes in 1996-97. This earned him a move to Olympique de Marseille for whom he played for one season. He was transferred to Celta Vigo where he spent two successful seasons at the Galician club.

[edit] Real Madrid

In 2000, he was recruited by Real Madrid. His transfer was controversial because Celta did not want to sell Makélélé unless a substantial improvement on their offer was made. Makélélé refused to train until there was resolution of his contract. Finally, Celta was reluctantly forced to sell him for far less than their valuation of the player.

At Real, Makélélé substantially added to his medal tally, winning two Spanish La Liga championships, the UEFA Champions League, the Spanish Super Cup, the European Super Cup, and the Intercontinental Cup (now replaced by the FIFA World Club Championship). As an ever-present in Vicente Del Bosque's Real side, Makélélé also established himself as one of the best holding midfielders in the world.

However, despite his value to the team, Makélélé was one of its most under-paid members, earning a fraction of that paid to team-mates like Zinédine Zidane, Luís Figo, Raul, Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Steve McManaman, and Guti. In the summer of 2003, feeling that his position at the club was insecure after the shock sacking of Del Bosque and the arrival of David Beckham, and encouraged by team-mates Zidane, Raul, McManaman and Fernando Morientes, Makélélé decided to ask for an improved contract. The Real management flatly refused to consider his request [1]. Upset, Makélélé handed in a transfer request, whereupon he was signed by Chelsea. Club president Florentino Pérez infamously poured scorn on Makélélé's footballing abilities and proclaimed that Makélélé would not be missed.

“ We will not miss Makélélé. His technique is average, he lacks the speed and skill to take the ball past opponents, and ninety percent of his distribution either goes backwards or sideways. He wasn't a header of the ball and he rarely passed the ball more than three metres. Younger players will arrive who will cause Makelele to be forgotten. [2] ”

His opinion differred from that of players like Zinedine Zidane, who remarked the following after Makélélé' was sold and Beckham was bought:

“ Why put another layer of gold paint on the Bentley when you are losing the entire engine? ”

Real Madrid have not won a single trophy since Makelele left, a factor in the unceremonious resignation of Perez from the Real presidency in 2006. While Perez signed a number of high-profile attackers, including Michael Owen, Júlio Baptista, and Robinho, in accordance with his "Galacticos" policy, he failed to adequately replace Makélélé in the holding midfielder's role.

In his autobiography, published in 2006, McManaman described Makélélé as the most important and yet least appreciated midfielder at Real. Retired former Real Madrid player and captain Fernando Hierro also criticised Perez for both Makélélé's departure and the manner of his departure, saying:

“ I think Claude has this kind of gift - he's been the best player in the team for years but people just don't notice him, don't notice what he does. But you ask anyone at Real Madrid during the years we were talking about and they will tell you he was the best player at Real. We all knew, the players all knew he was the most important. The loss of Makélélé was the beginning of the end for Los Galacticos... You can see that it was also the beginning of a new dawn for Chelsea. He was the base, the key and I think he is the same to Chelsea now. [3] ”

[edit] Chelsea

In the summer of 2003 he signed for Chelsea for £16,800,000, where then manager Claudio Ranieri proclaimed that Makélélé would be the "battery" of the team [4]. Unfortunately, Chelsea aspirations to win the 2003-04 championship under Ranieri's inconsistent management, eventually failed and they finishing second in the English Premier League and were eliminated by AS Monaco in the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Following the sacking of Ranieri and his succession by José Mourinho, Makélélé was the unsung hero in Chelsea FC's successful 2004-05 season, winning both the Premiership and the League Cup. His defensive qualities allowed the likes of Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Arjen Robben, and Didier Drogba to parade their attacking skills. However, Makélélé's importance were recognised by Mourinho, who declared him Chelsea's Player of the Year.

To cap off a brilliant 2004-05 for the Frenchman, he was allowed to take a penalty awarded to Chelsea in the game against Charlton Athletic on the day the Premiership trophy was due to be presented. He missed, but subsequently converted the rebound to score his first goal in 94 games for the Blues. In September 2005 he was selected as a member of the World XI at the FIFPro awards. The team was chosen by a vote of professional footballers in 40 countries. He added to his sizeable medal haul the following season, winning both the FA Community Shield and the English Premiership.

In March 2006, Fulham defeated Chelsea 1-0 in a Premiership game in which Fulham manager Chris Coleman's tactics centred on bypassing Makélélé on the wings when Fulham had possession and putting midfielders on Makélélé when Chelsea were in possession. With Makélélé struggling to function effectively, Chelsea lost the game. Coleman later explained that Makélélé was more than a mere defensive midfielder, but was actually Chelsea's deep-lying playmaker, and Chelsea's attacks were channelled through him. Thus, denying him possession was instrumental in unravelling Chelsea. Mourinho was subsequently forced to counter this tactic by withdrawing Lampard and Michael Essien further back in midfield to relieve the pressure on Makélélé [5].

On 5 November 2006 in a league encounter with Tottenham Hotspur, Makélélé scored his 2nd goal for the club, a magnificent volley from the edge of the 18 yard box which sped past Paul Robinson into the left-hand side of the goal. However Tottenham sprung a magnificent comeback to beat Chelsea 2 - 1, the first defeat Chelsea had conceeded to Tottenham in over a decade.

On 20 December 2006 in a Carling Cup game against Newcastle United, Makélélé wore the captain's armband for Chelsea with John Terry's absence and with Frank Lampard rested. He was substituted at half-time for Lampard.

[edit] International career

Makélélé has had a successful international career playing for France. By the end of 2004, he had gained 33 caps, and played for his country at the 1996 Olympic Games, the 2002 FIFA World Cup, and Euro 2004.

Makélélé decided to retire from international football in September 2004, in order to focus on club football with Chelsea, but eleven months later, in August 2005, he and compatriots Zinédine Zidane and Lilian Thuram announced their return to the French team to help qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

As a member of the France national football team competing at the 2006 World Cup, Makélélé's performances as a tireless midfield spoiler were invaluable to France's progress to the final as they defeated Spain, the defending champions, Brazil and Euro 2004 finalists Portugal in the knock-out rounds.

After the defeat to Italy on penalties in the World Cup Final, Makélélé initially commented that he was again going to retire from international football. However, he has since stated that he intends to continue to play for France in their qualifiers for Euro 2008. On 27 August 2006, Makélélé's club manager José Mourinho has stated that the France boss Raymond Domenech has treated Makélélé as "a slave" after he had announced his retirement. Rules made by FIFA state that players not appearing for their national team face a ban from playing for their clubs. [1]

[edit] Personal life

In the spring of 2004, he met and married the French model Noémie Lenoir and on January 24, 2005, Lenoir gave birth to a boy that they named Kelyan.

[edit] Trivia

  • Makélélé is so effective at the holding midfielder role to the extent that the position he plays is occasionally referred to as "The Makélélé Role".
  • In practice, however, Makélélé is probably the world's only true practitioner of the Makélélé role, since other holding midfielders also get forward and take shots. Makélélé, on the other hand, takes the role to a defensive extreme by taking very few shots (he has attempted less than five shots on goal over the last three years), keeping his passes short and safe, and almost never moving into the attacking third of the pitch.
  • "Makélélé", in Swahili, means a big loud noise or a din.
  • I have seen one eclipse of the moon, but I've never seen a Claude Makélélé goal. Clive Tyldesley, 2006, during Barcelona v Chelsea. Five days later Makélélé scored against Tottenham Hotspur in the Premiership.

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Unhappy Makelele continues pay rise rebellion", China Daily, 2003-08-15. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  2. ^ "Perez has parting shot at Makélélé", The Guardian, 2003-09-11. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  3. ^ "Hierro's hunger drives Bolton to brink of history", Fernando Hierro.com, 2005-04-30. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  4. ^ "Chelsea - The Football - Claude Makelele", ChelseaFC.com. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.
  5. ^ "Stop Makélélé, Stop Chelsea - Coleman", Sporting Life. Retrieved on March 30, 2007.

[edit] Honours

[edit] External links


Flag of France France squad - 2006 FIFA World Cup Runners-up Flag of France

1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Abidal | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Malouda | 8 Dhorasoo | 9 Govou | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Saha | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Givet | 18 Diarra | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Chimbonda | 22 Ribéry | 23 Coupet | Coach: Domenech
Flag of France France squad - 2004 European Football Championship Quarter-finalists Flag of France

1 Landreau | 2 Boumsong | 3 Lizarazu | 4 Vieira | 5 Gallas | 6 Makélélé | 7 Pirès | 8 Desailly | 9 Saha | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Rothen | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Dacourt | 18 Pedretti | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Marlet | 22 Govou | 23 Coupet | Coach: Santini
Flag of France France squad - 2002 FIFA World Cup Flag of France

1 Ramé | 2 Candela | 3 Lizarazu | 4 Vieira | 5 Christanval | 6 Djorkaeff | 7 Makélélé | 8 Desailly | 9 Cissé | 10 Zidane | 11 Wiltord | 12 Henry | 13 Silvestre | 14 Boghossian | 15 Thuram | 16 Barthez | 17 Petit | 18 Leboeuf | 19 Sagnol | 20 Trézéguet | 21 Dugarry | 22 Micoud | 23 Coupet | Coach: Lemerre
Chelsea F.C. - Current Squad

1 Čech | 3 A. Cole | 4 Makélélé | 5 Essien | 6 Carvalho | 7 Shevchenko | 8 Lampard | 9 Boulahrouz | 10 J. Cole | 11 Drogba | 12 Mikel | 13 Ballack | 14 Geremi | 16 Robben | 18 Bridge | 19 Diarra | 20 Ferreira | 21 Kalou | 22 Hedman | 23 Cudicini | 24 Wright-Phillips | 26 Terry | 33 Morais | 40 Hilário | 41 Makabu-Makalambay | 47 Sahar | 48 Woods | Manager: Mourinho
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