Lilian Laslandes
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Lilian Laslandes | ||
| Date of birth | 4 September 1971 | ||
| Place of birth | Pauillac, France | ||
| Height | 1.86 m (6 ft 1 in) | ||
| Playing position | Striker | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1991–1992 | Saint-Seurin | 33 | (10) |
| 1992–1997 | Auxerre | 125 | (47) |
| 1997–2001 | Bordeaux | 119 | (47) |
| 2001–2003 | Sunderland | 12 | (0) |
| 2002 | → 1. FC Köln (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | → Bastia (loan) | 30 | (8) |
| 2003–2004 | Nice | 33 | (10) |
| 2004–2007 | Bordeaux | 53 | (9) |
| 2007–2008 | Nice | 23 | (4) |
| Total | 433 | (135) | |
| National team | |||
| 1997 | France | 7 | (3) |
|
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. | |||
Lilian Laslandes (French pronunciation: [liljɑ̃ lɑsˈlɑ̃d]; born 4 September 1971) is a retired French footballer. He was capped seven times and scored three goals for the French national team. He ended his professional footballing career at OGC Nice in 2008.
Career
Born in Pauillac, Gironde, Laslandes started his professional career at the rather late age of 20, starting at the club Saint-Seurin in which he scored 10 goals in his 33 appearances for the club. Auxerre took notice of his talent and acquired him following the season. He went on to make 125 appearances (20 of them played at European level) for the club and scored 47 goals – of which two were scored in European cups.
Laslandes then moved to Girondins de Bordeaux on a free transfer on 1 August 1997. He was signed for his excellent scoring record and he lived to his name, scoring 47 goals in 119 appearances for the club. Foreign clubs were starting to take notice of the Frenchman and his consistent goalscoring ability, including some from England, Germany and Spain.
Sunderland
Arriving in June 2001, Peter Reid found a replacement for the ageing Niall Quinn. Lots of media hype surrounded the powerful Frenchman as the club paid £3.6m for his signature,[1] but he struggled to adapt to both the pace of the English Premiership and Sunderland's style of direct football. Laslandes' relationship with manager Peter Reid had also irretrievably broken down.[2] After 12 games with no league goals and one in the League Cup against Sheffield Wednesday,[3] Peter Reid decided to cut his losses. Laslandes was quickly shipped off in January 2002 to German side 1. FC Köln on loan, where he played five games without scoring, which earned him the derogatory nickname "LasLandesliga". This was followed by a more successful loan to French first division club Bastia for the 2002–03 season, where he scored eight goals in 30 appearances.
Laslandes returned briefly to Sunderland in the summer of 2003 for pre-season training with new manager Mick McCarthy. However, all parties agreed he had no future at Sunderland. Despite chairman Bob Murray's efforts to secure a transfer fee for the former French international, Sunderland's crippling debts, combined with Laslandes' Premiership wages, put Murray in a weak bargaining position, with the result that Laslandes was released from his contract and joined French first division club Nice at the start of the 2003–04 season.
Back at Bordeaux
Bordeaux brought the striker back to the club at the beginning of the 2004–05 season, at place where he had found glory earlier, but as he got older, he never found his old form, only scoring nine goals in 41 starts for the French side.
Back at Nice
On 5 January 2007, it was announced that Laslandes had signed a contract with his former club OGC Nice for an undisclosed fee. He was released in the summer of 2008. He then decided to become a handball player for Girondins de Bordeaux, and retire from professional football.
Honours
Club
- Auxerre
- Girondins de Bordeaux
References
- ↑ "Sunderland grab Laslandes". BBC News. 28 June 2001. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
- ↑ http://msnsport.skysports.com/list.aspx?hlid=105494&plid=3894&clid=&cpid=24
- ↑ "Owls stun Black Cats". BBC. 12 September 2001. Retrieved 5 November 2009.
