Gabriel Zakuani

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Gabriel Zakuani
Personal information
Full nameGabriel Abdala Zakuani[1]
Date of birth (1986-05-31) 31 May 1986
Place of birthKinshasa, Zaire
Height6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Playing positionDefender
Club information
Current clubKalloni
Number50
Youth career
2000–2003Leyton Orient
Senior career*
YearsTeamApps†(Gls)†
2003–2006Leyton Orient87(3)
2006–2009Fulham0(0)
2007→ Stoke City (loan)9(0)
2007–2008→ Stoke City (loan)19(0)
2008–2009→ Peterborough United (loan)32(1)
2009–2013Peterborough United148(4)
2014–Kalloni1(1)
National team‡
2005–DR Congo[2]5(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 03:03, 18 January 2014 (UTC).

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 18:09, 6 September 2013 (UTC)

Gabriel Abdala Zakuani (born 31 May 1986) is a Congolese footballer who plays for Kalloni.

Zakuani began his career with Leyton Orient and was a vital member of the side which gained promotion in 2005–06 and also knocked Premier League side Fulham out of the FA Cup. He was signed by Fulham in August 2006 but failed to make an impact at Craven Cottage and he spent half the 2006–07 season and the whole of the 2007–08 season on loan at Stoke City with whom he helped gain promotion to the Premier League. He signed for Peterborough United in 2008–09 initially on loan before making the move permanent. With the "Posh" Zakuani gained promotion in 2008–09 but were then relegated in 2009–10. They gained an instant return by beating Huddersfield Town 3–0 in the 2011 League One play-off final.

Club career

Leyton Orient

Born in Kinshasa, Zakuani moved to London as a young child. Leyton Orient spotted him playing in one of his school matches as a 14-year old and signed him. After two seasons in Orient's youth team, Zakuani was given his first-team debut against Bournemouth in March 2003, aged 16.[3] In the 2004–05 and 2005–06 seasons he become a regular in Martin Ling's plans, making the central defence position his own and scoring three goals in almost 100 first team appearances for Orient.

In January 2006, Zakuani was part of the Leyton Orient side that defeated Premier League, Fulham 2–1 in the FA Cup third round. His performance attracted the attention of the West London side, who signed him in July that year 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.[4]

Fulham

Zakuani only played twice for Fulham in his three-year spell with the club, in the League Cup against Wycombe Wanderers and in the FA Cup against Leicester City.

Loans to Stoke City

Zakuani signed for Stoke City on loan for the remainder of the 2006–07 season.[5] Despite being a 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.[6] 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 re-signed for Stoke on loan for the rest of the 2007–08 season.[7] This time he made 19 appearances as Stoke were promoted to the Premier League. Zakuani later admitted he would like to make a permanent move to Stoke: "The gaffer [Tony Pulis] 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."[8] Despite this, a move never happened.

Peterborough United

Gabriel Zakuani was then sent to Peterborough United on a three-month loan. On 25 November 2008 it was confirmed that he would make his loan move permanent when the transfer window re-opened on 1 January 2009, for a fee in the region of £375,000.[9] On 8 July 2012, Gabriel Zakuani was given captaincy of Peterborough United. On 12 November 2012, Zakuani was transfer listed and fined following a breach of club discipline following a night out in Peterborough.[10] He has since been taken off the transfer list and had his fine repealed.

Kalloni

On January 2, 2014, Zakuani signed a contract with Kalloni, who are competing in Superleague Greece, the top flight of the Greek football.[11]

International career

Zakuani made his international debut for the DR Congo on 16 August 2005 against Guinea coming on as a sub. The match finished in a 3–1 win to DR Congo.

He was called up by the national squad for the 2013 African Cup of Nations and played his first match for DR Congo in over seven years coming on as a sub in a 2–2 draw with Ghana in the first group B match. He did not play in the second match but made his first start and played the full 90 minutes against Mali in the third. The match finished 1–1 but this wasn't enough for DR Congo to qualify as they were eliminated in the group stages.

Personal life

His brother Steve is also a professional 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 Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer. In 2007, Zakuani appeared in Dizzee Rascal's music video for his single "Flex".

Career statistics

As of 4 May 2013[12]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other[A] Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Leyton Orient 2002–03 Third Division 1000000010
2003–04 Third Division 102100000112
2004–05 League Two 330101010360
2005–06 League Two 431501010501
Total 873702020983
Fulham 2006–07 Premier League 001010–20
Total 0010100020
Stoke City (loan) 2006–07 Championship 900000–90
2007–08 Championship 1901000–200
Total 280100000290
Peterborough United 2008–09 League One 321500000371
2009–10 Championship 2900030–320
2010–11 League One 302301040382
2011–12 Championship 4111010–431
2012–13 Championship 3310010–341
Total 16559060401845
Career total 280818090603138
A. ^ The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the Football League play-offs and Football League Trophy.

Honours

Leyton Orient
Stoke City
Peterborough United

References

  1. ↑ "List of Players under Written Contract Registered Between 01/07/2011 and 31/07/2011" (PDF). The Football Association. Retrieved 7 February 2012. 
  2. ↑ Gabriel Zakuani at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. ↑ "Bournemouth 3–1 Leyton Orient". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2012. 
  4. ↑ "Fulham swoop for Orient's Zakuani". BBC Sport. Retrieved 23 December 2012. 
  5. ↑ "Stoke snap up Hendrie and Zakuani". BBC Sport. 30 January 2007. Retrieved 7 June 2007. 
  6. ↑ "Derby v Stoke". Soccerbase. Retrieved 23 October 2010. 
  7. ↑ "Gabbi's Back!". Stoke City Official Website. 31 August 2007. Retrieved 31 August 2007. 
  8. ↑ "Zakuani plans to stop on at Stoke". BBC Sport. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010. 
  9. ↑ "Zakuani agrees Peterborough terms". BBC. 20 November 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2008. 
  10. ↑ "Peterborough United fine and transfer-list four players". BBC Sport. Retrieved 13 November 2012. 
  11. ↑ "Gabby Zakuani: Peterborough United defender joins Kalloni". BBC Sport. 2 January 2014. Retrieved 3 January 2014. 
  12. ↑ "Gabriel Zakuani". Soccerbase. Retrieved 5 May 2013. 

External links

DR Congo squad – 2013 Africa Cup of Nations
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Kalloni F.C. – current squad
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