| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Damien Plessis[1] | ||
| Date of birth | 5 March 1988 | ||
| Place of birth | Neuville-aux-Bois, France | ||
| Height | 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defensive Midfielder | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Doncaster Rovers | ||
| Number | 35 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1994–2001 | Deportivo Espagnol Orléans | ||
| 2001–2002 | FCO Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle | ||
| 2002–2004 | Orléans | ||
| 2004–2007 | Lyon | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2007–2010 | Liverpool | 3 | (0) |
| 2010– | Panathinaikos | 4 | (0) |
| 2012 | → Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 0 | (0) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2004–2005 | France U17 | 6 | (1) |
| 2005–2006 | France U18 | 2 | (2) |
| 2006–2007 | France U19 | 9 | (0) |
| 2008 | France U20 | 4 | (1) |
| 2008 | France U21 | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 18 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Damien Plessis (born 5 March 1988) is a French footballer of Réunionais origin,[2] who plays for Doncaster Rovers, on loan from Greek side Panathinaikos. He is also the younger brother of professional footballer Guillaume Plessis.
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Born in Neuville-aux-Bois, France, Plessis started his career at Olympique Lyonnais.[3] Plessis signed for Lyon at the age of 15, and was considered to be one of the team's most promising youngsters, following in the footsteps of Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa.
Plessis signed a three-year contract for Liverpool on the last day of the transfer window in August 2007 and initially played for the reserve team, it was rumoured that he was purchased for a fee nearing £2.5million . Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez said of Plessis after having signed him, "He is a good player, big and strong, and we're sure he'll do well for us. He's only a young boy with plenty of time to work on his game but it depends on his progress how quickly he can force his way into the first team". Plessis made his debut for Liverpool on 5 April 2008 in the 1–1 away draw against Arsenal F.C..[4] Rafa Benítez described his performance by saying "Today was the debut for Damien Plessis. We knew when we signed him that he was a quality player. He's played really well for the reserves, and to play as well as he did today in this stadium, it shows we are going in the right direction and in time he will be fighting with the likes of Gerrard and Spearing for a first team place."[5]
For the start of the 2008–2009 season Plessis was given the new number 28 shirt once worn by Steven Gerrard when he was breaking into the Liverpool first team as formal recognition of his part in the first team squad.[6] He made his first performance for the season against Standard Liege in the UEFA Champions League. This game also marked his debut in the competition. He also started the first match of the season against Sunderland F.C. but he only played 45 minutes because of a knock and fellow midfielder Xabi Alonso came on to replace him.[7]
On 23 September 2008, Plessis played in the Carling Cup game against Crewe Alexandra. He scored his first senior goal for the club in a Carling Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on 12 November 2008 when he headed down a corner from Ryan Babel.[8]
Plessis signed an extension to his Liverpool contract, in October 2009, that should have kept him at Anfield until 2012.[9]
On 12 August 2010, Plessis' shirt number, 28, was taken by new signing Christian Poulsen.
On 31 August 2010, Panathinaikos bought the player from Liverpool on an undisclosed fee.[10] After signing, Plessis stated that he was happy to be the back up of his football idol Gilberto Silva. Plessis was becoming a first team regular, before he fell out with the manager. He was such a promising player when he signed with the club, lot's was expected from him but his performance was average and never satisfied the manager or the fans. This way he didn't manage to get any playing time at all finishing the season with just 8 appearances. At the end of the season he was expected to leave the club since he was not part of the manager's plans for the following season. In July 2011 Plessis went on trial with Leicester City FC. However, Sven Goran Eriksson confirmed that the trial was not very successful and was a very short trial. He was later linked with FC Augsburg who were just promoted to the Bundesliga as well as being rumoured to be in talks with 1860 Munich. Eventually he didn't reach an agreement with any team and stayed at Panathinaikos.
On 23 December 2011, Doncaster Rovers signed him on loan until the end of the season. Doncaster will pay £2000 of his wages and Panathinaikos will pay the rest of his wages. Plessis is hoping to use the switch to the Keepmoat as a spingboard to winning a move back to the Premier League.
Plessis has played for the French Under-19 team, at the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, reaching the semifinal.[11]
Plessis made his debut as a substitute for the French Under 21's on 6 September 2008
Correct as of 30 October 2009
| Premier League | FA Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals | App | Goals |
| Liverpool (Premier League) |
2007–08 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 2008–09 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 1 | |
| 2009–10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Liverpool total | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 1 | |
| Panathinaikos (Premier League) |
2010–11 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Career totals | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 16 | 1 | ||
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