Probing Newcastle’s new signings – Yohan Cabaye.
Posted on June 24th, 2011 | 18 Comments |
Cabaye, who’s recent signing was broken on Joey Barton’s Twitta, and this ‘blog, was signed from Lille OSC for £4.3 million, which must be something of a bargain for someone who is thought to be something more like £8-10 million. Lille, a very good and stylish attacking side, won the double of France’s Ligue Un Championship and Coupe de France last season with a host of very talented players such as Gervinho, Moussa Sow, Eden Hazard and not least, Cabaye himself.
He comes from a family of footballers. His father Didier played for French side Lens until his professional career was ended by a serious injury remiscent of Hatem Ben Arfa’s when he sustained a double leg fracture. His younger brother Geoffrey plays in the French lower leagues with Iris Club de Croix.
Cabaye is not a particularly imposing specimen, standing at around 5 feet 9 inches. Although supposedly a central midfielder, he can also play well on both flanks, having outstanding technical ability and a very good shot. He is also a very versatile player who is good at winning the ball, and knowing what to do with it when he has it. In his past, he has fulfilled roles as a defensive midfileder, a ‘box to box’ midfilelder as well as an playmaker. He is also a very good penalty taker, having scored eight of his thirteen league goals in the 2009/10 season from the spot. Looking into his history, his technical abilty is hardly surprising as he was a precocious talent who displayed great abilty from a very early age, joining his local club, Tourcoing FC at the tender age of four, moving on to the Academy of Lille OSC when he was twelve.
He has also been a much sought after player in recent times who has been held in very high regard by no lesser managers than Sir Alex Ferguson, Arsene Wenger and several others. Ferguson once said of Cabaye:
“Cabaye and Eden Hazard are two of the names that any club will want to own,”
Cabaye’s most productive season with Lille so far was probably the 2009/10 season referred to above, when he scored 15 goals from 46 appearences in all competitions. Perhaps more telling for a player of his type was that he also provided 11 assists. Last season, when Lille won Le Championnat de France, with Cabaye scoring four goals in 48 appearences, providing 9 assists. His overall Lille record is 253 appearences in all competitions, scoring 39 goals and providing 35 assists.
Major Honours.
Club: Ligue 1 – 2010–11 (Lille OSC), Coupe de France – 2010–11.
International: UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship – 2005
Odd facts about Cabaye:
His maternal grandmother is Vietnamese. When asked in an interview with French magazine Hourrafoot if we would have played for Vietnam had he not been selected for Blanc’s French national side, Cabaye replied in the affirmative and added that he would like to assist in the development of Vietnamese football someday.
Yohan Cabaye in action.
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NUFCBlog Author: workyticket
workyticket has written 1095 articles on this blog.
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