| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Gabriel Zakuani | ||
| Date of birth | 31 May 1986 | ||
| Place of birth | Kinshasa, Zaire | ||
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||
| Playing position | Defender | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | Peterborough United | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 2000–2002 | Leyton Orient | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 2002–2006 | Leyton Orient | 87 | (3) |
| 2006–2009 | Fulham | 0 | (0) |
| 2007 | → Stoke City (loan) | 9 | (0) |
| 2007–2008 | → Stoke City (loan) | 19 | (0) |
| 2008–2009 | → Peterborough United (loan) | 32 | (1) |
| 2009– | Peterborough United | 69 | (3) |
| National team‡ | |||
| 2005 | DR Congo | 1 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 14:19, 22 October 2011 (UTC). † Appearances (Goals). |
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Gabriel Zakuani (born 31 May 1986 in Kinshasa) is a Congolese professional footballer. He currently plays for Peterborough United.
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Zakuani moved to London in 2002 where Leyton Orient spotted him playing in one of his school matches as a 14 year old. After two seasons in the Youth Team, the 16-year-old was given his first team debut in a match against Bury in March 2003. In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons he become a regular in Martin Ling's plans, making the central defence position his own at Orient. He scored three goals in almost 100 first team appearances for Orient. In January 2006, Zakuani was part of the Leyton Orient side that overcame Fulham, 2–1, in the FA Cup third round. Zakuani and his team mates were eventually knocked out of the Cup by another Premier League outfit, Charlton Athletic.
In July 2006, he was signed by Fulham for a fee of £1m, rising to £1.5m depending on appearances, on a four-year contract, The fee represented a club record for Leyton Orient. He only played twice for Fulham firstly in the League Cup against Wycombe Wanderers and in the FA Cup against Leicester City.
Zakuani signed for Stoke City on loan for the remainder of the 2006–07 season.[1] Despite being a natural centre back, Zakuani also deputised as a right back during his loan spell. He made his debut for Stoke in a 2–0 win away at Derby County in February 2007.[2] He went on to make another eight appearances for Stoke during the 2006–07 season as City narrowly missed out on a play-off place.
On 31 August 2007, Zakuani again signed for Stoke on loan, this time for the rest of the 2007–08 season.[3] This time he managed to make 19 appearances as Stoke were promoted to the Premier League, this led to Zakuani admitting he would like to make a permanent move to Stoke."The gaffer said he'd like me here so I'll wait and see what happens in the summer, Obviously Stoke would be my first choice but you always think where you will be wanted the most."[4] However despite this a move never happened.
Zakuani was then sent to Peterborough United on a three-month loan where he partnered Craig Morgan in the Posh back four. On 25 November 2008 it was confirmed that he would make his loan move at Peterborough United a permanent one when the transfer window re-opened on 1 January 2009. The fee was estimated to be over the record signing fee of £500,000 which Peterborough paid for Joe Lewis.[5]
Zakuani made his international debut for the Democratic Republic of Congo in August 2005 against Guinea.
| Club | Season | League | FA Cup | League Cup | Other[A] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Leyton Orient | 2002–03 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 2003–04 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 2 | |
| 2004–05 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 36 | 0 | |
| 2005–06 | 43 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 50 | 1 | |
| Total | 87 | 3 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 98 | 3 | |
| Fulham | 2006–07 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | – | 2 | 0 | |
| Total | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Stoke City (loan) | 2006–07 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 9 | 0 | |
| 2007–08 | 19 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | 20 | 0 | ||
| Total | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0 | |
| Peterborough United | 2008–09 | 32 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 37 | 1 |
| 2009–10 | 29 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | – | 32 | 0 | ||
| 2010–11 | 30 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 38 | 2 | |
| Total | 91 | 3 | 8 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 107 | 3 | |
| Career Total | 206 | 6 | 17 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 236 | 6 | |
Away from football, in 2007, Zakuani appeared in Dizzee Rascal's music video for his single Flex. Gabriel is also the father of Destiny Cecile Zakuani, his daughter; Ajae, his adopted son and a second daughter Heaven, born in March 2009. He has five siblings, his sister Angela, his brother Steve, his younger brother Sosthene, his sister Admira and the youngest of the Zakuani family, Claudia. He also grew up with Serge Zakuani, his cousin who is now more like a brother to him. Fashion writer Shanice "Redd" Petrie, Gabriel's partner, gave birth to the centre-back's first son, Trendy, in September 2011.
Steve Zakuani is also a footballer who came through the Arsenal academy, before playing collegiate soccer with the Akron Zips and in the USL Premier Development League with Cleveland Internationals. He currently plays for the Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer.
On the 11th January 2011 on his Twitter page, he announced that for every new follower he got that he would donate £1 to the Comic Relief Charity.[6]
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