Gaël Clichy

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Gaël Clichy
Personal information
Date of birth	July 26, 1985 (age 21)
Place of birth	Toulouse, France
Height	1.77m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position	Left back
Club information
Current club	Arsenal
Number	22
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2001–2003 2003–	AS Cannes Arsenal	15 (0) 44 (0)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 2006-12-24. * Appearances (Goals)

Gaël Clichy (born July 26, 1985 in Toulouse) is a French football player, who currently plays for Arsenal of the English Premier League.

Contents 1 Biography 2 Honours 3 Club career 4 External links

[edit] Biography

Signed by Arsène Wenger in the summer of 2003 from AS Cannes for £250,000, Clichy plays the position of left back for Arsenal, although he had had to be content with playing understudy to England international Ashley Cole. However, he has still made 72 appearances (including 44 in the league) for Arsenal in the two seasons he has been at the English club.

After Cole suffered a fractured foot, it seemed that Clichy would earn some valuable first-team action (for the several months that Cole would be out); indeed, with the rumours linking Cole with a transfer to Spain, it seemed that Clichy could make a strong case for continual first-team action. However, in a bizarre turn of events, Clichy suffered an exactly identical injury to Cole's, leaving Arsenal with a crisis at the left-back position.

Clichy returned to first team action on April 25, 2006 in a Champions League semi-final against Villarreal, and came on as a substitute for the injured Mathieu Flamini. In this game, the referee judged Clichy to have bundled over an opposition player in the final minute of the game, and awarded a penalty. Replays show that there was minimal contact and Arsenal, goalkeeper Jens Lehmann saved Juan Román Riquelme's penalty. Clichy suffered a re-occurrence of his injury and missed the end of the season including the Champions League Final.

He is the youngest winner of a Premiership medal which he earned in his first season with Arsenal for his 12 appearances in 2003-04.^{[citation needed]}

When Cole left for Chelsea in August 2006, Clichy became the first choice left back at Arsenal. He returned to action, appearing as a substitute against Watford on 14 October 2006.

[edit] Honours

• FA Premier League Winner: 2003–04
• FA Cup: 2004–05
• Champions League Runner-Up: 2005–06

[edit] Club career

(correct as of July 13, 2006)

Club	Season	League			Cup[1]		Europe		Total
		Apps	Goals	Assists	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Arsenal	2003-04	12	0	0	9	0	1	0	22	0
	2004-05	15	0	0	7	0	2	0	24	0
	2005-06	7	0	0	0	0	4	0	11	0
Career totals									57	0

[edit] External links

• Statistics at soccerbase.com

Arsenal F.C. - Current Squad
1 Lehmann | 2 Diaby | 4 Fàbregas | 5 Touré | 6 Senderos | 7 Rosický | 8 Ljungberg | 9 Baptista | 10 Gallas | 11 van Persie | 13 Hleb | 14 Henry | 15 Denílson | 16 Flamini | 19 Gilberto | 20 Djourou | 21 Poom | 22 Clichy | 24 Almunia | 25 Adebayor | 27 Eboué | 30 Aliadière | 31 Hoyte | 32 Walcott | 33 Connolly | 43 Randall | 45 Traoré | Manager: Wenger