- Damien Plessis
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Damien Plessis Personal information Full name Damien Plessis[1] Date of birth 5 March 1988 Place of birth Neuville-aux-Bois, France Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) Playing position Defensive Midfielder Club information Current club Panathinaikos Number 19 Youth career 1994–2001 Deportivo Espagnol Orléans 2001–2002 FCO Saint-Jean-de-la-Ruelle 2002–2004 Orléans 2004–2007 Lyon Senior career* Years Team Apps† (Gls)† 2007–2010 Liverpool 8 (1) 2010– Panathinaikos 10 (0) National team‡ 2004–2005 France U17 6 (1) 2005–2006 France U18 2 (2) 2006–2007 France U19 9 (0) 2008 France U20 4 (1) 2008 France U21 1 (0) * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 05:50, 22 July 2010 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 13:38, 9 September 2008 (UTC)Damien Plessis (born 5 March 1988) is a French footballer of Réunionais origin,[2] who plays for Greek side Panathinaikos. He is also the younger brother of professional footballer Guillaume Plessis.
Contents
Career
Olympique Lyonnais
Born in Neuville-aux-Bois, France, Plessis started his career at Olympique Lyonnais.[3] Plessis signed for Lyon at the age of 15, and was considered to be one of the team's most promising youngsters, following in the footsteps of Karim Benzema and Hatem Ben Arfa.[citation needed]
Liverpool
Plessis signed a three-year contract for Liverpool on the last day of the transfer window in August 2007 and initially played for the reserve team, it was rumoured that he was purchased for a fee nearing £2.5million . Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez said of Plessis after having signed him, "He is a good player, big and strong, and we're sure he'll do well for us. He's only a young boy with plenty of time to work on his game but it depends on his progress how quickly he can force his way into the first team". Plessis made his debut for Liverpool on 5 April 2008 in the 1–1 away draw against Arsenal F.C..[4] Rafa Benítez described his performance by saying "Today was the debut for Damien Plessis. We knew when we signed him that he was a quality player. He's played really well for the reserves, and to play as well as he did today in this stadium, it shows we are going in the right direction and in time he will be fighting with the likes of Gerrard and Spearing for a first team place."[5]
For the start of the 2008–2009 season Plessis was given the new number 28 shirt once worn by Steven Gerrard when he was breaking into the Liverpool first team as formal recognition of his part in the first team squad.[6] He made his first performance for the season against Standard Liege in the UEFA Champions League. This game also marked his debut in the competition. He also started the first match of the season against Sunderland F.C. but he only played 45 minutes because of a knock and fellow midfielder Xabi Alonso came on to replace him.[7]
On 23 September 2008, Plessis played in the Carling Cup game against Crewe Alexandra. He scored his first senior goal for the club in a Carling Cup match against Tottenham Hotspur on 12 November 2008 when he headed down a corner from Ryan Babel.[8]
Plessis signed an extension to his Liverpool contract, in October 2009, that should have kept him at Anfield until 2012.[9]
On 12 August 2010, Plessis' shirt number, 28, was taken by new signing Christian Poulsen.
Panathinaikos
On 31 August 2010, Panathinaikos bought the player from Liverpool on an undisclosed fee.[10] After signing, Plessis stated that he was happy to be the back up of his football idol Gilberto Silva. Plessis was becoming a first team regular, before he fell out with the manager. He was such a promising player when he signed with the club, lot's was expected from him but his performance was average and never satisfied the manager or the fans. This way he didn't manage to get any playing time at all finishing the season with just 8 appearances. At the end of the season he was expected to leave the club since he was not part of the manager's plans for the following season. In July 2011 Plessis went on trial with Leicester City FC. However, Sven Goran Eriksson confirmed that the trial was not very successful and was a very short trial. He was later linked with FC Augsburg who were just promoted to the Bundesliga as well as being rumoured to be in talks with 1860 Munich. Eventually he didn't reach an agreement with any team and stayed at Panathinaikos.
International
Plessis has played for the French Under-19 team, at the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship, reaching the semifinal.[11]
Plessis made his debut as a substitute for the French Under 21's on 6 September 2008
Statistics
Correct as of 30 October 2009
All-Time Club Performance 
Premier LeagueFA Cup League Cup Europe Total App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals App Goals Liverpool
(Premier League)2007–08 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2008–09 1 0 0 0 2 1 2 0 5 1 2009–10 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 Liverpool total 3 0 0 0 3 1 2 0 8 1 Panathinaikos
(Premier League)2010–11 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 8 0 Career totals 3 0 0 0 3 1 2 16 1 References
- ^ Hugman, Barry J., ed (2009). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2009–10. Mainstream Publishing. p. 335. ISBN 9781845964740.
- ^ Anfield online profile
- ^ "Damien Plessis". Liverpool F.C.. 2008-04-05. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/team/squad/plessi/. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ Bevan, Chris (2008-04-05). "Arsenal 1–1 Liverpool". London: BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/7320164.stm. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ "Rafa Praises Debut Boy Damien". Liverpool F.C.. 2008-04-05. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N159436080405-1541.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-05.
- ^ "Trio Handed First-Team Squad Numbers". Liverpool FC. 2008-08-06. http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/news/drilldown/N160834080808-1416.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-06.
- ^ http://www.liverpoolfc.tv/match/season/2008-2009/aug/673/finalwhistle.htm
- ^ Wallace, Sam (2008-11-13). "Redknapp's Spurs march on". London: The Independent. http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/fa-league-cups/redknapps-spurs-march-on-1016108.html. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ "Liverpool youngster signs new deal". Ontheminute.com, October 28, 2009. http://www.ontheminute.com/news/news.php?news=18565. Retrieved 2009-10-28.
- ^ http://www.pao.gr/el/news/?itemid=26973510-0697-4ac2-a60b-aea678527cb6
- ^ "Spain prevail in Pasching shoot-out". UEFA. 2007-07-24. http://www.uefa.com/competitions/under19/fixturesresults/round=15067/match=300910/index.html. Retrieved 2008-04-06.[dead link]
External links
*This Is Anfield Player Profile
Panathinaikos FC – current squad 2 Seitaridis · 3 Sarriegi (c) · 4 Boumsong · 5 Kanté · 6 Vitolo · 7 Ninis · 8 Ioannidis · 9 Toché · 10 Christodoulopoulos · 11 Leto · 14 Quincy · 17 Zeca · 18 Bjärsmyr · 19 Plessis · 22 Marinos · 23 Simão · 24 Vyntra · 25 Kotsolis · 26 Karagounis · 27 Karnezis · 28 Petropoulos · 29 Katsouranis · 31 Spyropoulos · 35 Mavrias · 36 Leontiou · 38 Cleyton · 39 Melissis · 40 Kapinos · 71 Rudolf · Manager: Ferreira
Categories:- 1988 births
- Living people
- French footballers
- French expatriate footballers
- Réunionnais footballers
- France under-21 international footballers
- Association football midfielders
- Liverpool F.C. players
- Panathinaikos footballers
- Premier League players
- Expatriate footballers in England
- Expatriate footballers in Greece
- France youth international footballers
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