Julián Estéban

Football player infobox
playername= Julian Esteban
fullname = Julian Esteban
nickname =


dateofbirth = birth date and age|1986|09|16
cityofbirth = Geneva
countryofbirth = Switzerland
height = height|m=1.74
currentclub = Stade Rennais FC
clubnumber = 21
position = Striker
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 2006-07 (oct) 2007(jan)-
clubs = Servette FC Stade Rennais FC
caps(goals) = 17 (14) 3 (0)
nationalyears =
nationalteam = Switzerland U21
nationalcaps(goals) = 10 (5)
pcupdate =
ntupdate = 7 October 2007

Julian Esteban (born September 16, 1986 in Geneva) is a Swiss-Spanish footballer, currently playing for Stade Rennais FC in France. He is also a Swiss under-21 international. He plays as a striker.

Esteban was an academy product of his hometown club Servette FC. He made his first team breakthrough in the 2006-2007 season and scored a remarkable 14 goals in 17 games for the Challenge League side in only the first half of the season. A host of top European clubs including Arsenal, Ajax and Dinamo Zagreb were attracted in his services.

In October 2006, Esteban signed a four-year contract with Rennes worth approximately 7 million Swiss Franc. He became the fourth Swiss to join Rennes, after the retired Christophe Ohrel and Marco Grassi, currently the chief manager of FC Chiasso and not to forget Alexander Frei, who currently plays for Borussia Dortmund in Germany.

His goalscoring prowess has led to comparison with established Swiss international striker, Alexander Frei. Ironically, Frei also played at Servette FC before he joined Rennes in 2003. Esteban is tipped to be the main strike partner of Frei for Switzerland in the Euro 2008, to be co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria, in 2008.

On March 3, 2007 he played his first Ligue 1 2006/2007 match for Rennes against A.J. Auxerre [ cite web|title=Tactical Formation|work=Football-Lineups.com
url=http://www.football-lineups.com/games/?game=4304 | accessdate=March 2 | accessyear=2007]

References

External links

* [http://www.stade-rennais-online.com/Julian-Esteban.html Julian Esteban's profile, stats & pics]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HjwQfvVFEu0] Introduction video at YouTube