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Date of Birth: Friday, July 26, 1985
Birth Place: France
Height: 179cm
Position: Defender
Former Clubs/Teams: AS Cannes

Biography

Gael Clichy plays for the France national side and Arsenal in the English Premier League. He is a left-back or left wing-back, with his attacking football philosophy ensuring he gets forward at every available opportunity. Following years as Ashley Cole’s understudy, Clichy has made the position his own, and competes with Manchester United’s Patrice Evra for the left-back spot for France’s national side.

Childhood

Gael Clichy was born on July 26th 1985 in Toulouse, France. In his youth he was practically addicted to playing football, spending every spare moment with a ball at his feet. Whilst climbing into a caged football pitch in his youth he somehow managed to catch his ring on the spikes, ripping his finger off. A seven-hour operation was needed to sew the finger back on, and he stuck to playing on the streets and open pitches from then on! As a child, he was fast but lacked height, though this didn’t stop him from being scouted by Cannes from an early age.

Early Career

Gael Clichy started out at Cannes, but hadn’t yet made it into the first–team when he was plucked from obscurity by Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger.

Current Club

Clichy signed for Arsenal in July 2003, with Arsene Wenger convinced enough about the young defender he had seen in Cannes reserves that he paid around ÂŁ500,000 for him. Aged just 18, Clichy was the understudy to Ashley Cole, who was in his prime. The two players had a very similar, attacking, game, so Clichy was able to learn from one of the very best in his position from an early age.

After three seasons as understudy, Clichy became the first team left-back when Ashley Cole left in a cloud to join Chelsea. He took over where Cole left off, and hardly any Arsenal supporters were able to tell the difference, which is testament to Clichy’s game. He is now one of the regular Arsenal back-four, and perhaps the most dependable.

He scored his first goal for Arsenal on 1st November 2008, after over 5 years at the club, against Stoke.

International

Gael Clichy has been part of the international set-up since his youth – earning himself call-ups to the U19s and U21s. His first call-up to the French full side was in January 2008, but Clichy didn’t do enough to win himself a place in the Euro 2008 squad ahead of Evra or Abidal. Following Austria-Switzerland 2008 he has regularly been called up, and made his international debut on September 10th 2008.