Emmanuel Petit is a French hero

Emmanuel Petit is one of the most famousFrench players who spoke at the turn of the century. Defensive midfielder, who played in several top clubs, who won both the most prestigious trophies at the national team level, he really deserves attention. And now you will learn the details of his career. Emmanuel Petit is an outstanding personality in French football, and, unlike many football players, he almost gave his entire career to his native club.

Native club - it's a long time

Emmanuel Petit was born in France on September 221970, and from an early age he began to go to the football school "Arc-la-Bataille". When the boy was only 15 years old, he was noticed in one of the largest French clubs - "Monaco". He was invited to watch, and in 1985 Emmanuel began to speak for the youth academy of this club.

Passing through the youth squads, in 1988, inat the age of 18, Petit signed his first professional contract, which connected him with "Monaco" for a long time. Many French players quickly left their native clubs, going to other leagues, but Petit remained loyal to Monaco. He spent nine years here, that is, he devoted most of his career to this club. Together with "Monaco" he won the French Cup in 1991, and in 1997 - already the national championship. It was this year that became decisive, as Emmanuel Petit was the result on the sight of the leading top clubs in Europe. And the Frenchman decided that it was time for change, agreeing to a transfer. As his new club, he chose the London "Arsenal", which laid out for the defensive midfielder only four million euros.

Successes in Arsenal

It was in the "Arsenal" that Emmanuel Petit flourished -the player began to perform at a qualitatively new level, became the leader of his club. And it immediately sprinkled a variety of trophies. In his first year at Arsenal, the Frenchman won the championship of England, the FA Cup winner, and in the next two years he took two Super Bowls of England. Of course, Petit is already thirty years old, but this did not stop the largest clubs from showing interest to him. And in 2000, Emmanuel decided to leave the UK and go to Spain, where he was already waiting for Barcelona, ​​who paid for it an incredible amount at that time - fifteen million euros.

Going to another club

However, in the "Barcelona", unfortunately, Petit is nothe managed to achieve impressive successes - he could not even gain a foothold in the first team. This did not suit either the leadership of the club or the player himself, so his relations with the Catalans turned out to be extremely short - already in 2001, Barcelona got rid of the Frenchman. Of course, the whole amount could not be returned to the Catalans, but for eleven and a half million euros the defensive midfielder agreed to sign another London club - "Chelsea".

The last command

Chelsea for Petit became the last club in hiscareer - he signed a contract for two years, which was then extended for another year. But in 2004, after spending a little more than fifty matches for Londoners, Petit announced that he was completing his football career. Many athletes resume training with time, but Petya's decision was final and irrevocable. Moreover, in those days there was not any popularization of exotic leagues, where old players were sent out to finish their careers in order to earn money. Therefore, 2004 was the last in the sports life of Petit.

National team appearances

As you already noticed, at the club level EmmanuellePetit was quite successful, but the greatest success with him was achieved not by the club, but by the French team. Why do we have the right to assert this? The fact is that Petit is one of those athletes who made France the strongest football country at the turn of the millennium. Emmanuel himself participated in three major tournaments for his career - in two World Championships and one European Championship. Few can boast of such results, but he won first the World Cup in 1998, and then the European Cup in 2000.

Alas, the performances that showed teamFrance in 2002 was simply a failure, and in many ways the reason for the failure was the fact that there were too many champions left who were already aged and could not show the same wonderful game.

What did Emmanuel have to do with football afterretirement? Mostly former French footballer works in the direction of charity. All his fans are well aware of one story that happened in 2011. Emmanuel Petit spent his entire career running off the pitch with a luxurious long hair mane - this was his distinguishing feature. However, in 2011, Petit decided to cut all his hair, including his beard, which he managed to collect 34,000 pounds sterling for charity. This is an impressive step, and looking at bald Petit after two decades of long hair was rather unusual.