PLAYER PROFILE

Steed Malbranque

Position: Midfield

Height: 5'8

Weight: 11st 5lbs

Date of Birth: 1980-01-06 Mouscron, Belgium

Steed Malbranque

Malbranque signed from Lyon in the summer of 2001 for £4.5million. He had made his debut for Lyon at the age of 18 in early 1998 and went on to make over 50 appearances.

Although born in Belgium, he captained France at the 1999 European under-18 Championships under the guidance of Fulham's former assistant manager Christian Damiano. He has yet to break into the senior French side.

Upon signing for Fulham, he seemed sure he could cope with the pressures of the Premiership, saying: 'I've confidence in myself. Lots of spaces open up during English games, and I reckon I can take great advantage.

He made a big impression in his first season in the English Premier League, scoring 10 goals from 42 appearances, a great record for a midfielder.

The tenacious midfielder is a great attacker, and has gone from strength to strength since his arrival at Fulham. During the 2003/04 season Malbranque played nearly every game of the Cottagers' Premiership campaign and was integral to their successes last season.

He continued such success into the 2004/05 season, as he made 31 appearances and scored 7 times, including 2 in a 3-1 Barclays Premiership victory at Blackburn.

He followed this up with another six goals in 2005/06, though a contract row in the summer of 2006 saw him relegated to training with the youth team squad.

Malbraque left Craven Cottage in August 2006 to join Tottenham Hotspur for an undisclosed fee and proved how good he is with five goals in 41 games.