Florent Malouda

Florent Johan Malouda (born 13 June 1980 in Cayenne, French Guiana) is a French footballer currently playing as a left winger for Chelsea in the Premier League and the French national team. He is a left winger who can also play as a second striker or behind the front two.

Florent Malouda signed for Chelsea in July 2007 after beating off stiff competition from around Europe including and Real Madrid. The French winger joined Chelsea from Lyon for an undisclosed fee said to be within the £13.5 million mark. He joined them on a four and a half year deal.

Club career

Guingamp

Malouda was then signed by top division side Guingamp following Châteauroux's inability to secure a Ligue 1 berth. It was in Guingamp where his talent was showcased in French top-flight football. Under the tutelage of coach Guy Lacombe, Malouda demonstrated his tremendous ability and formed a superb assister and finisher combination with then team-mate Didier Drogba.

In 92 appearances for Guingamp, Malouda scored 15 goals.

Lyon

 Malouda's performances at Guingamp began catching the attention of French giants Olympique Lyonnais who, after claiming their second consecutive title during the 2002–03 season, decided to sign Malouda. In an outstanding Lyon team containing Juninho, Michael Essien, Grégory Coupet, and Mahamadou Diarra, Malouda established himself on the left side of Lyon's attack, forming great link-ups with all of Lyon's strikers. His performances for Lyon finally earned him a much deserved call up to the French national team.

The highlights of Malouda's career at Lyon were a man of the match display against Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League and his 10 goals which led Lyon to their sixth consecutive Ligue 1 title, both during the 2006–07 season.

He also won the Ligue 1 Player of the Year that season, succeeding teammate Juninho, Lille OSC's Abdul Kader Keïta, Toulouse FC's Johan Elmander and RC Lens' Seydou Keïta to the accolade.

Malouda made public his wish to leave Lyon at the end of the 2006–07 season, with both Chelsea and Real Madrid showing interest in the winger. On 29 June 2007, Malouda told Lyon based newspaper Le Progres that he has his heart set on a move to Chelsea, confirming that Chelsea had lodged a €17 million bid for him. Malouda later repeated this comment in an interview with the Daily Star. On 5 July 2007, Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon told Sky Sports News that Chelsea had been in discussions with Lyon regarding Malouda's transfer and were hoping to tie up the deal before Chelsea's pre-season tour in the USA.

Chelsea

On 8 July 2007, Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas announced that Lyon had accepted an undisclosed bid, rumoured to be around €20,000,000/£13,500,000, from Chelsea for Malouda. Chelsea later officially revealed that Malouda would be traveling to London on 9 July for a medical and to discuss personal terms. Malouda had looked set to join Liverpool until the Premiership rivals Chelsea intervened, and the opportunity to play for Liverpool faded. At 7pm on the same day, Malouda officially signed a three-year contract with the club. He was handed the number 15 shirt. Chelsea manager José Mourinho described Malouda as a mature and proven player who was up to the challenge of adapting to the fast pace of English football, and hinted that Malouda would be fielded in tandem with Dutch winger Arjen Robben.

In his first game for Chelsea, a pre-season friendly against Mexican side C.F. América, Malouda scored the equaliser and set up John Terry for the winning goal as Chelsea went on to win 2–1.

Malouda made his competitive debut for Chelsea against Manchester United in the 2007 FA Community Shield on 5 August 2007 in a 1-1 draw, despite Chelsea going on to lose on penalties, he scored in what was an impressive display.

Malouda started against Birmingham City on 12 August on the left wing, a position previously adopted by Arjen Robben and Joe Cole. Malouda scored Chelsea's second goal in a 3-2 victory, before being replaced by Steve Sidwell in the 83rd minute.

On 19 August, Malouda won a dubious penalty decision from referee Rob Styles in a Premier League game against Liverpool. Replays of the incident indicated Malouda had backed into the Liverpool defender, Jamie Carragher, after trying to leave the ball for the unmarked Didier Drogba. The penalty kick was given and Frank Lampard scored. Referee Rob Styles was dropped from the next weekend Premier League games as a result of this incident and some other contentious decisions during the game. He scored against Schalke 04 in his first Champions League game for Chelsea, squeezing the ball through keeper Manuel Neuer's legs after turning his marker Rafinha. On 23 January, Malouda set up Joe Cole with a long pass to score against Everton in the Carling Cup, Chelsea won 3-1 on aggregate. On 5 May 2008, Malouda scored his second Premier League goal in the penultimate game of the season against Newcastle United, converting Frank Lampard's through ball.  Malouda ended his first season in English football with two goals and one assist in the league, a relatively poor return due to being second choice on the left wing to Salomon Kalou for the majority of the season and the shock arrival of Avram Grant as Chelsea manager.

Malouda scored his first two goals in the Luis Felipe Scolari era against French team Girondins de Bordeaux in the Champions League group stages on 16 September 2008 and in the Carling Cup third round tie against Portsmouth. Both games went on to be 4-0 victories for Chelsea. His first league goal of the season was against Middlesbrough in a 5-0 win. The Frenchman scored the crucial second goal in a 2-0 win against Newcastle United, scoring from Frank Lampard's pass in what was almost a carbon copy of he goal he scored at Saint James' Park the previous season. Malouda then played one of his best games for Chelsea in a 3-1 win over Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League, supplying crosses for Branislav Ivanović and Didier Drogba to score. He then scored the leveling goal against Arsenal in what would be a 2-1 victory for Chelsea in their FA Cup semi-final at Wembley Stadium. On 2 May, he netted in Chelsea's 3-1 win over Fulham at Stamford Bridge. On 6th may in a Champions league semi final against FC Barcelona Malouda was disallowed a potential penalty by the controversial referee, who dissalowed numerous other Chelsea appeals for a penalty. He scored the fourth goal in a famous 4-1 victory over Arsenal which was they biggest defeat in the league at home for 38 years. In the game which marked his 50th Premier League match for the Blues. The next match in the Premier League was against Blackburn Rovers. He scored the first goal in the game from a fine header. In the 2009 FA Cup Final against Everton, he played a pivotal role in Chelsea's 2-1 win setting up Didier Drogba's equaliser and was awarded Man of the Match.

International career

 Malouda made his debut for France on 17 November 2004 in a match against Poland. He then became a regular for his country, scoring his first goal for his country on May 31, 2005 against Hungary.

After playing almost throughout France's qualifying campaign for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, Malouda earned a call up to the final squad. Malouda continued to play regularly in the tournament, where the French eventually lost on penalties to Italy in the final. He won a penalty for France in that game which was converted by Zinédine Zidane. To date, Malouda has scored three goals in 42 appearances for the French national team.