| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Marc-Antoine Fortuné | ||
| Date of birth | 2 July 1981 | ||
| Place of birth | Cayenne, French Guiana | ||
| Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Club information | |||
| Current club | West Bromwich Albion | ||
| Number | 32 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Angoulême | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1998–2002 | Angoulême | 63 | (20) |
| 2002–2003 | Lille | 16 | (0) |
| 2003–2004 | → Rouen (loan) | 34 | (10) |
| 2004–2005 | Stade Brest | 33 | (10) |
| 2005–2007 | Utrecht | 53 | (11) |
| 2007–2009 | AS Nancy | 71 | (11) |
| 2009 | → West Bromwich Albion (loan) | 17 | (5) |
| 2009–2010 | Celtic | 32 | (10) |
| 2010– | West Bromwich Albion | 26 | (2) |
| 2011 | → Doncaster Rovers (loan) | 5 | (1) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 17 December 2011. † Appearances (Goals). |
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Marc-Antoine Fortuné (born 2 July 1981 in Cayenne, French Guiana) is a French footballer who plays for Premier League club West Bromwich Albion.
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As a child Fortuné played both football and basketball, but gave the latter up at aged 12 due to scheduling conflicts.[2]
At age 16 Fortuné was given a trial by French side, Rennes. He was not offered a contract, but instead signed for lower-league team Angoulême. He broke into the Angoulême side in the 1999/2000 season and had a successful start scoring three goals in ten appearances before the end of the seasons. At the end of the 2000–01 campaign, Fortuné propelled the club out of the Championnat de France amateur and into the Championnat National, the third tier of French football. His continued goalscoring form and overall performance during this and the following season caused much speculation over his future with media speculation constantly linking him with many Ligue 1 clubs. In the following summer, Fortuné joined Ligue 1 side Lille. In all Fortuné made a total of 63 league appearances for Angoulême, scoring 18 goals.
Upon joining Lille, the then 21-year old struggled, finding himself playing on the left of midfield. This coupled with a constant series of injuries lead to dips in form and a poor time in Fortuné's career. He was injured on his second appearance for the club and was ruled out for a month, upon his return to action, he again picked up an injury. This new injury caused Fortuné to be out of action for a further six weeks. In his first and only season for Lille, he made started just 7 times and only made a further 9 appearances from the substitutes bench. During this season he was unable to score a single goal.
Fortuné joined Ligue 2 club Rouen on loan, in the summer of 2003 with an option to make the move permanent. With this fresh start for the young player, Fortuné saw a return to form. Playing from right-midfield he managed to score goals in his first three appearances which earned him a role back to his preferred role of striker. A successful season at Rouen ended with 10 Ligue 2 goals in 34 appearances. His good form for Rouen earned him a move to Stade Brest.
Fortuné signed for Ligue 2 side Stade Brest in July 2004, making it his third new club in three successive seasons. It turned out to be another successful move for Fortuné. He started out the season playing wide on the right side of a front three. This led to a league position of 9th and a good run in the Coupe de France ending in the quarter-final stage. He scored 10 goals in 33 Ligue 2 appearances and started to draw attention from bigger clubs around Europe including Eredivisie side FC Utrecht.
In 2005 Fortuné moved to FC Utrecht in the Dutch Eredivisie. Finding himself back in the winger role he enjoyed a successful time at the club but struggled after the death of his friend, neighbour and team mate David Di Tommaso.[2] During his time at Utrecht, Fortuné scored a total of 13 goals making 56 appearances in both league and cup for Utrecht. During the January transfer window of the following season he looked for a move back to France after an unsettling period in the Netherlands. He secured a move back before the transfer deadline and was signed by Coupe de la Ligue winners and Ligue 1 side Nancy.
Fortuné returned to France in January 2007, this becoming his fifth move in as many years, with Tomblaine club AS Nancy. He started off his first season back in France well, scoring 6 goals in 17 Ligue 1 appearances. The 2007–08 season saw Fortuné struggling for form and to score goals. This caused him to take on the role of a substitute for most of the season. He finished the 2007–08 campaign with just 7 goals in 38 appearances, with most of them being from the bench. His third season back in France with Nancy saw much of the same as the previous. Fortuné made just 24 appearances with most of them as a second-half substitute. This season was even less successful as Fortuné netted only two goals during the Ligue 1 season. He became unsettled at Nancy but was unable to secure a move away from the Stade Marcel Picot during the summer transfer window. During the first half of the 2008–09 he was once again used by Uruguayan coach Pablo Correa mainly as a substitute with several clubs from England tracking his progress.
Fortuné moved to West Bromwich Albion in the January 2009 transfer window, joining on loan for the remainder of the 2008–09 season.[3] He made his début for West Bromwich Albion in their 3–0 Premier League home win over Middlesbrough and scored by deflecting team mate Robert Koren's shot into the net.[4] In just five months with the club, he became a fan favourite of the supporters, scoring five goals in eighteen appearances as well as creating other goals. He won the West Bromwich Albion Supporters' Player of the Year despite only joining the club in January.
On 9 July Fortuné signed for Celtic in a deal worth £3.8 million.[5] He made his debut for Celtic against Brisbane Roar at Suncorp Stadium in the Translink Cup,[6] and his competitive debut on 29 July 2009 against Dynamo Moscow, a Champions League qualifier which Celtic lost 1–0.[7] He scored his first Celtic goals in his home league début on 22 August in a 5–2 win against St. Johnstone at Celtic Park[8] and started in Celtic's next game at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal, setting up a goal for strike partner Scott McDonald, which was disallowed for offside.[9]
On 12 December, in a game against Motherwell at Fir Park, Fortuné came off the bench and moments later crashed a right-footed effort into the top corner of the net to clinch a 3–2 victory for Celtic.[10] He then scored his first European goals for the Hoops five days later, a brace in a 3–3 draw against Rapid Vienna in the Europa League.[11][12]
On 3 January 2010, Fortuné had a goal controversially disallowed in a home game against Rangers after referee Steve Conroy had judged him to have fouled the Rangers goalkeeper Allan McGregor while challenging for a header.[13][14]
On 24 January, Fortuné scored twice in a 4–1 victory over St. Johnstone. One where he got the ball on the angle of the box and hammered it into the far top corner.[15] On 27 January, Fortuné scored in Celtic's shock 2–1 defeat at home to Hibernian.[16] Then on 30 January Fortuné missed a last-minute penalty in their 1–0 win over Hamilton Academical.[17] On 10 February, Fortuné added another to his tally with a 50th minute near post strike from just inside the penalty box during a 2–0 victory against Hearts to help close the gap on Rangers to eight points.[18] Fortuné continued to add to his tally three days later, netting the second in a 4–4 draw at Aberdeen after linking up well with strike partner Robbie Keane.[19]
On 4 May 2010, Fortuné headed home Celtic's winner against Rangers at Celtic Park in a 2–1 victory to help make up for his disappointment at the ruled out effort against the same side earlier in the season.[20]
He made his last appearance for the club against his former side FC Utrecht in the Europa League, which they lost 4–0 away.[21]
On 27 August 2010, Fortuné completed a whirlwind return to The Hawthorns on a permanent basis after the striker joined West Bromwich Albion from Celtic for an undisclosed fee.[22] He scored the first goal of his second spell with the club on 23 October 2010 in a 2-1 win over Fulham.[23] Fortuné also scored the equalising goal, in a 2-2 draw at home, against Wigan Athletic on 1 February 2011.[24]
In November 2011, Fortuné signed a loan deal with Doncaster Rovers. He made his début for the club in the 0-0 draw against Watford at the Keepmoat Stadium. He got his first assist for club a week later setting up Billy Sharp to score the winner against top of the table Southampton, again in front of the home fans. He scored his first goal for Doncaster Rovers in their 2-1 loss away at Birmingham City. However on 20 December 2011, WBA recalled him and two other plays also on loan at other clubs due to an injury crisis.[25]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | League Cup | Europe | Total | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| App | Goals | Assists | App | Goals | Assists | App | Goals | Assists | App | Goals | Assists | App | Goals | Assists | ||
| Celtic | 2009–10 | 30 | 10 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | 7 | 2 | 0 | 40 | 12 | 10 |
| 2010–11 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | |
| Total | 32 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 12 | 13 | |
| Career total | 32 | 10 | 11 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 45 | 12 | 13 | |
Fortuné grew up supporting French club Marseille and cites them as his favourite team. In his spare time he likes to DJ and is a close friend of the German DJ Boys Noize. He likes sitcoms and movies, often making his own amateur films at school and would like to become an actor upon retiring from football.
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