Sébastien Frey

Sébastien Frey

Personal information
Date of birth	(1980-03-18) 18 March 1980
Place of birth	Thonon-les-Bains, France
Height	1.89 m (6 ft 2 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Goalkeeper
Club information
Current club	Bursaspor
Number	1
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps†	(Gls)†
1997–1998	Cannes	24	(0)
1998–2001	Internazionale	35	(0)
1999–2000	→ Verona (loan)	30	(0)
2001–2006	Parma	132	(0)
2005–2006	→ Fiorentina (loan)	18	(0)
2006–2011	Fiorentina	157	(0)
2011–2013	Genoa	74	(0)
2013–	Bursaspor	18	(0)
National team‡
	France U-21	4	(0)
2007–2008	France	2	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 28 January 2014. † Appearances (Goals). ‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 27 May 2008

Sébastien Frey (born 18 March 1980 in Thonon-les-Bains) is a French footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Bursaspor in the Turkish Süper Lig.

Club career

Cannes

Frey began his career with French side AS Cannes in 1997, at the age of 17. On 20 September 1997, Frey made his professional league debut, playing as a starter in a 1–1 home draw against Rennes. At the end of the season in the 1997/98 season, Frey made 24 league appearance and took Grégory Wimbée's starting goalkeeping spot in the first team.

Internazionale

Following two promising seasons, he moved to Italian side Internazionale after former Internazionale goalkeeper Walter Zenga spotted Frey and recommended his former club, Inter Milan to sign him. But also wanting to sign him was Juventus. Eventually, Frey opted to join Internazionale. At Internazionale in earlier season, Frey was the third goalkeeper behind Andrea Mazzantini and Gianluca Pagliuca until Mazzanantini was sold to Perugia, making Frey as second choice goalkeeper. On 21 March 1999, Frey finally made his debut for the club against Genoa. Frey also made appearance against Sampdoria when he was put on instead of Pagliuca a the 70 minutes on the score (and final) 4–0. At the end of the season will total seven league appearances with the Nerazzurri shirt.

Loan to Verona and Return to Internazionale

In the summer transfer of 1999, Frey move to Verona on loan where Frey plays from the owner collecting thirty league appearances and gaining salvation with the team.

The following year he returned from loan to play in Internazionale. At Inter, Frey was recalled in view of its performance at Inter, in 2000–2001 he became the youngest goalie in team history Lombard and the first foreigner to move from Internazionale to this post. It also participates in the preliminary round of the Champions League. His exemplary behavior, his maturity and dedication to the club propel him on rare occasions the team captain. However the team played below expectations, the company decides to change the squad, and he was placed on a transfer list after the arrival of Francesco Toldo from Fiorentina.

Parma

After arrival from Toldo who put force Frey into exile to a new club, Frey transferred after two years to Parma in the summer of 2001, for 8 billion lire cash plus Sérgio Conceição (Conceição tagged for 32 billion lire,^[1] Internazionale official site claimed the cash was 10 billion lire^[2]), or 40 billion lire^[3] with whom he won the 2001–02 Coppa Italia. Frey was replacement for Gianluigi Buffon who was transfer to Juventus for a transfer fee of 100 billion lire^[1] which is currently the world-record goalkeeper's transfer fee. Also, it was a difficult task for Frey to replace Buffon.

His experience in Parma is good and provides ample opportunity to Frey to demonstrate his talent and justify the trust placed in him by the leaders Parma. Becoming a key element of the club, Frey regularly plays the UEFA Cup. In 2001/02 Coppa Italia, Frey led Parma winning the cup for the third time since 1999 which however never sees Frey take the field during the tournament. But at the 2002/03 season of Supercoppa Italiana, Frey was in goal against Juventus but only to lose 2–1.

Frey playing in a match for Fiorentina.

In June 2005 Parma avoid relegation to Serie B at the dams against Bologna thanks to Sebastien Frey and outstanding performance. Despite an affection for the club, but in an economic concern of the latter to balance its balance sheet, Sebastien Frey joined after four seasons with Parma, Fiorentina for the 2005–2006 season, on the occasion of a loan with a purchase option.

Fiorentina

Frey joined Fiorentina on loan for the 2005–06 campaign, and signed a permanent deal with the club for €6 million (€5.6M went to Parma)^[4] at the end of the year following a glittering season where he formed the backbone of the team along with Cristian Brocchi, Stefano Fiore, and Luca Toni. After a positive first half of the season for him and his team, on 10 January 2006, during a game of Italy Cup against Juventus, he received a blow after a conflict with Marcelo Zalayeta.

In the battle, Frey gets a blunt trauma to the tibia that does stay out of the playing fields for a few months, forcing the sports director purple Pantaleo Corvino to return to the market to hire a replacement, then signed Bogdan Lobonț.

On 15 May 2006 the Florentine official the outright purchase of Frey, paying his card for an amount equal to €6 million. With the new season Frey regains his starting spot in defense of the purple door, and after an initial physiological problems due to long stop regains fitness.

On 13 December 2007, Frey suffered a meniscus injury during training, and underwent knee surgery the next day. He returned for Fiorentina's 2–1 victory over Parma on 13 January 2008, after being sidelined for one month, and his outstanding play was rewarded with a contract extension.^[5]

At the end of the Serie A 2008–09 championship Frey, conceding less than a goal per game; thirty-one in thirty-eight matches.

On 2 November 2010, Frey injured his knee during training, suffering an Anterior cruciate ligament injury,^[6] ruling him out for the rest of the season.^[7][8]

Genoa

In 2011, Frey joined Genoa on a five-year deal on free transfer^[9] after falling out of favor for the newly signed Artur Boruc who joined from Celtic in the previous season. Before joining Genoa, Frey revealed talks with French side spenders PSG during the summer transfer window but eventually got Palermo goalkeeper Salvatore Sirigu. Also, Frey revealed that German side Bayern Munich was keen of signing him in the past.^[10]

Bursaspor

On 15 July 2013, Frey joined Turkish Süper Lig side Bursaspor for an undisclosed fee.^[11]

International career

Frey received his first call-up for France for a match against Poland in November 2004, but did not make an appearance. He earned his first cap in France's final UEFA Euro 2008 qualifier against Ukraine on 21 November 2007. The match ended in a 2–2 draw after he erred on Andriy Shevchenko's equalising goal. He was a member of France's Euro 2008 finals squad. On 20 August 2008, after being continually overlooked by manager Raymond Domenech, despite his excellent form for Fiorentina, and the constant calls for his selection by the French media, Frey announced his retirement from international football at the age of just 28.

Personal life

Frey's grandfather André was a French international footballer, and his father Raymond was also a professional goalkeeper. His younger brother Nicolas is a defensive midfielder currently playing for Serie A team Chievo. Frey is Buddhist (Soka Gakkai), and credited former Fiorentina legend Roberto Baggio as one of his spiritual mentors.^[12]

Career statistics

As of 26 December 2013^[13]

References

External links

• Profile at ACF Fiorentina official site
• France national team profile and stats – fff.fr (French)

v t e France squad – UEFA Euro 2008 1 Mandanda 2 Boumsong 3 Abidal 4 Vieira (c) 5 Gallas 6 Makélélé 7 Malouda 8 Anelka 9 Benzema 10 Govou 11 Nasri 12 Henry 13 Evra 14 Clerc 15 Thuram 16 Frey 17 Squillaci 18 Gomis 19 Sagnol 20 Toulalan 21 Diarra 22 Ribéry 23 Coupet Coach: Domenech