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Date of Birth: Saturday, March 5, 1988
Birth Place: France
Height: 193cm
Position: Midfielder
Former Clubs/Teams: Olympique Lyon

Biography

Damien Plessis is a midfielder for France and Liverpool in the English Premier League. He plays centrally as a defensive midfielder, aiming to break up the play and spread the ball out wide to the team’s more attacking players. He joined the English giants despite never having played a match for Lyon – it was his performances for the French national youth teams that won him his big move.

Childhood

Damien Plessis was born on 5th March 1988 in Neuville-aux-Bois, 40miles south of Paris. In spite of interest from the Parisian teams, Plessis opted to play for Olympique Lyonnais, who were the French champions at the time.

Early Career

Damien made his way up from the youth ranks at Lyon, but never had the opportunity to play for the first-team, not least because the club had such talents as Jeremy Toulalan, Juninho and Kim Kallstrom in the central midfield positions. Even though he wasn’t playing first-team football, Plessis was being followed by numerous scouts across Europe because of his performances for the French national youth sides, with his decent games leading France U-19s to the semis of the Youth World Cup triggering a move.

Current Club

Damien Plessis arrived at Anfield on August 31st 2007, just months after dominating the midfield in the Youth World Cup. He had numerous talks with other clubs ahead of deciding that Liverpool was the club for him – not least because he got to play with international room-mate David Ngog.

Plessis learnt the English game in the reserves, but was soon strong enough to meet the demands of the rough and tumble of the Premier League – making his debut in April 2008.

His second season at the Reds took off well – he had impressed enough in the pre-season friendlies to be chosen in the midfield ahead of Xabi Alonso. His joy was short-lived as he limped off at half-time, allowing the Spaniard to stake a claim on the midfield spot.

International

Damien Plessis has played for France at every level since he was a 15 year old, and received his first call-up to the U-21s in September 2008. Some convincing performances at the U-19 and U-17 tournaments led to him becoming highly thought of across the continent, and many expect him to become a big player for the full national side before too long.